Laughter is the Best Medicine

I have mentioned before that my mother and myself are animal lovers. About 5 months ago, when I was going to get into my car in the garage to go to work, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. When I went to investigate there were 4 little kittens behind the refrigerator that had been abandoned.

Now I really had to think before calling my mother later in the day and telling her that we had 4 kittens in the garage, because I knew of course, she would want to keep them all. Now we take complete responsibility of our animals. That means trips to the vet for vacinations, plus spayed or neutured. Plus the weekly trips to the store for animal food and treats and of course they have to have toys to play with.

Now all of this is going through my head before I am over come with the guilt that if the mother doesn’t come back they will starve to death. Well I can’t let that happen! So on my morning phone call to check on her and make sure that she is doing Okay, I ask her to put alittle bit of milk out by the refrigerator in the garage that we have some new residents. Then came the flood of questions. How long have they been there? How old are they? Is the mother there? Will they come to you? Ok course my standard answer was I don’t know to each question.

I told her that the kittens were Ferrel Kittens (which means wild) since they had not been handled by humans and loved on etc. I knew that she would be rushing out to the garage to see the little ones and remember her sight is not that well, so the thought of her falling as she was running out there was a big concern of mine.

When I pulled into the driveway that night, I was met at the garage by my mother and the neighbor and her daughter. My mother could not wait to tell the neighbor about the kittens in the garage. The neighbor was asking me how many are there, what colors are they, how old are they. My standard answer again was I don’t know, as I turned to my mother and said we are not keeping them. My mother gave me that, we’ll see look.

Well we eventually moved the kittens outside in a kennel on the back porch so they could get use to outside as my mother said. It was actually so she could play with them while I was as at work.

Bless her heart while coming out of the back door she accidently stepped on one of them and displaced it jaw, now the free kitten was on its first trip to the vet for a dislocated jaw. Now our vet knew how my mother is with animals, and she estimated the kittens to be approx. 5wks old. Now this free kitten has already cost $199. at the vet and survived.

I took two of the kittens to my aunts house in the country in Pond Creek Oklahoma. That left me with two kittens that I knew I would be taking care of the rest of their or my life.

I mention all of this because these kittens that are now 5mo old are at the vet today getting spayed. Which will be another vet bill. So much for Free Kittens.

I have learned my lesson, the next time I find an abandoned animal in my garage I will sneek over to the neighbors house and put them on their porch, and be really surprised when they call mom and say guess what we found on our front porch.

Till Next Time!

The flue season, is a very tough time for the elderly and the young, and we do need to keep them in mind as we sneeze, cough, shake hands, borrow ink pens, pay with money. All these things and more can be used to transfere germs.

This week, is the third round of antibiotics and cotrizone for my mother. She cannot seem to beat the bacteria that is staying in her lungs. She is terrified of getting the flu virus and tells me about it everyday. I have been told by our doctor, that yes I need to get the vacine, but it will not be available until the middle of October. He also advised me that the flu shot only lasted 4 months at a time.

If my mother had her way, I would have already had multiple vacinations, (which of course is not allowed) and literly be a pin cushion. I will be one of the first in line to get this vacine when it is available.

She watches the news all day long and immediately tells me when I walk through the door after work, how many people were diagnosed and how many people died from the flu that day. If most of the elderly population is like my mother, they will be a nervous wreck by the time the flu seasons over.

Just remember to wash your hands constantly and keep your hands away from your face. I carry disenfectant in my car and in my purse and try to keep my distance from others when I am in the public. If you can use common sense it truly could be the best medecine.

Have A Great Day!

I was reminising about over the last 6 years that I have lived with my mother and some of the funny things that she has done, and some of the scary moments that she has put me through.

I had lived with my mother for maybe 6mo and she really did not realize just how bad her health had gotten in a short amount of time. As I have mentioned before we have small inside dogs and of course like all inside dogs they think that they are people even though the go outside to do their business.

I remember being woken up one night around 3:00am in the morning hearing my sure name whisphered in my ear, Janice can you help me. I open my still half asleep eyes and in front of my face is a face that looks like it has been through a major boxing match. I am talking blood and dirt all over her face and down the front of her night gown.

Of course that is enough to jump start the ole heart, I sat up really quick and said just as composed as I could, what happened to you. She decided that the dogs need to go outside to potty and forgetting that her eyesight is not near what it should be, stumbled on the sidwalk and fell face first in the dirt. Needless to say, this was her first broken nose adventure. When I took her to the emergency room, the looks that I got we one of inquiring what happened to this sweet little ole lady to the looks of did you hit her, or who attacked her. Next came the questions of my brother what happened to mom and why was she outside at 3:00am in the morning. I had been on trial and hung before I had a chance to open my mouth.

I could tell that my mother was enjoying this, because all she did was sit there and smile. I have learned by trial and error how to handle things just alittle bit better as time has gone on.

Just one of those strange but some what humerous advents, of taking care of my mother. Rememeber to smile.

I thought that I would talk in this blog about the illness, Diabetes. Upon the many illness’s that my mother has, one of them is diabetes. She has been insulin dependent since 2005. Before that she was on a diet, and pills to control her sugar levels.

I can only give you the information that I have, from talking to her doctors about my mothers case, and working with her directly. I am not a doctor. Diabetes affects everybody alittle different, but the end result in all diabetes if not properly controled is the same.

With my mother, her sugar is hardly ever in the normal range (most people 80 to 120) her normal range is 160-180 which is high on most people. With her being a country gal, raised on home made breads and fried cooking, it is a real challenge. This is on top of the medications that she takes. Just about everything you put in the body turns into some kind of sugar. The pancreas produces the enzymes & insulin that breaks the fats down in the body. When the pancreas, stops working or producing these enzymes or insulin, then you need artificle means to break it down, which can lead to being insulin dependant.

Some medications can increase the sugar levels, like prednisone- steroids or cortizone. With the pneumonia that she has had, she has been on the drug prednisone, which makes her sugar levels go through the roof. Her sugar levels are 240-300 during this period. But the prednisone helps take the swelling down in her lungs and makes it easier for her to breath, and gives some relief to the lungs and helps them to heal. A nurse in the ICU Unit at Midwest City Hospitial told me that normally a sugar leve of 600 means that you are in a coma or dead. At that time her sugar levels were at 1,400. This is why I say that eveybody is different.

Since my mother became insulin dependant, I have noticed several things, she has lost sensation in the tips of her fingers and the bottoms of her feet. She drops items more often, and stumbles alot more. She has some memory loss, and has more bouts with illness’s.

Something that I do with my mother to try and help slow do the loss of sensation in her feet, is take her for Pedicures at least twice a month. I take her where they will massage the feet and legs for a lengthy amount of time, which I hope will stimulate the cirulation and slow down the loss of sensation to the bottom of the feet. Can you imagine how scary it can be to walk and not be able to feel the bottom of your feet, and have the security that you will not fall.

I have these really swashy balls for her to sit and squeeze while she watches her daily soaps on TV. There really is nothing I can do to help with her eye sight, except have plenty of artifical light in the house and have a really good vitamin that is suppose to help, people with diabetes and their eye sight, plus keep updating her reading glasses.

The leading killer in the nation is heart attacks, then stroke then diabetes. Diabetes, leads to harding of the arteries and internal organs which leads to heart disease, at least this is what her doctors have told me, and the articles that I have read.

Some common signs of possiblities of having an onset of diabetes.

1. Excessive Thirst

2. Feeling like you are tired all the time.

3. Having trouble sleeping

4. Excessive trips to the bathroom

5. Feeling like your tounge is swollen or have what is called a cotton mouth.

6. Crave sugar, and after you have eaten it get really tired. Most people will eat sugar for energy, if it does the opposite you might get checked by your doctor for hypo-glycemia – low blood sugar.

Once again I am not a doctor, I am only stating from facts that my mothers doctors have given me, what I have observed with her daily and things that I have done to try to help her. Have A Great Day!

As I puttered around the house this weekend I found it to be very relaxing.

My mother is getting better from her bout with pneumonia. She was in bed most of the weekend resting, so I just made sure that she had her medicines and balanced meals as I puttered around the house. Now I can only take so much puttering around the house, so next weekend may be an entirely different story.

We did watch the OU Game, we are both BIG OU FANS! Normally we are sitting in the sunroom watching the game on TV and she is yelling at the guys on the TV to get up off of the ground and go get the ball! She is as fun to watch as the game is fun to watch. But this weekend she just didn’t have the energy to spare to yell at them , so she just said her at a boys, once in awhile.

I didn’t even try and catch that annoying opossum that has been strolling into the backyard after dark, and eating the left over cat food. He or she doesn’t know it, but it will be living in a different location soon, it will be relocated as soon as I hear the trap door shut.

Trapper Jan will be on a mission again!

Send me an email on how you are doing taking care of your loved one at home, and how you keep yourself amused, and how you retain you sanity while you do it.

This has been a very trying week in taking care of my mother, she has no resistance to any kind of illness, and when she does catch something it quickly turns into pneumonia. She started out in the doctors office on Monday with acute bronchitis, and yesterday was back in the doctors office with pneumonia. I had her back at the doctors office today and it was either or, if you are not better you are going into the hospital. She missed the hospital by the skin of her teeth. This weekend will be the turning point on whether she is better or I find many outdoor things to do in the yard because she is feeling better.

When she feels good you find many things to keep yourself occupied with around the house or you will be told there is something else you should be doing. To me work is a blessing. I love my mother, don’t get me wrong, but this is probably the reason I am not married. I am very laid back and love to laugh and enjoy life. I cannot stand confrontations, I would rather not talk or leave than argue.

I love to fish and camp out, and really enjoy the outdoors. I have to sacrafice this for the time being. I cannot take my mother to outtings, because of allergies and chronic health issues. Someday you will be able to find me sitting on the porch of a small cabin by the lake drinking my hot cup of coffee in the morning watching the sun rise and in the evening watching the stars and the moon. Come join me the pot will always be on.

As I have mentioned before taking care of a loved one or an elderly parent has its good and bad days. Since last week my mother has been ill and I really should be a ballerina dancer as much as I have tip toed around the house, and when I need a good laugh I can imagine myself in one of those tu tu’s, it would be like a baby elephant tip toeing accross thin ice and just waiting to fall through.

My mother, has many health ailments that I have to constantly be on top of, these include anything from breathing & heart conditions and resistance to any kind of bacteria. In other words NO Immunity. When she is ill, there is not a minute of peace in the house. I mean this litteraly, even the dogs will hide.

I have had her at the doctors office twice in the past two weeks and today I very gratefully got my brother to take her back to the doctors office. She is a very contankerous lady. She will tell the doctor she does not like him and he is full of it as you are leaving the examination room and your ears are burning with embarassment because you know he heard her. But bless his little heart he just smiles as he goes on to his next patient.

My mother did not want to go back to the doctor today, even though she could not walk across the floor and breath at the same time. She actually had a doctor get in her face and tell her, if she could not walk across the floor, and breath at the same time then she better be in the back of an ambulance on her way to the hospital. Of course my mother has selective hearing, and will tell you that she was never told that.

Well tonight when I get home from work, and all of my momma do’s are completed for the day, and I can tip toe back to my sanctuary which is my bedroom, and not hear my name yelled out, I can give a deep sigh of relief that I made it through another day.

Remember laughter is the best medicine!

Laughter is the Best Medicine! If I don’t laugh daily with the task of taking care of my mother, then there would be a river of tears, and I am really not a very good swimmer, so the only option is to laugh. My mother has a heart of gold, and this includes taking care of all types of animals. Of course her taking care of the animals , really means that I take care of the animals.

My mother adopted a yellow tom cat about 2 years ago, about the same time that she adopted this yellow tom cat, a second yellow tom cat started showing up at feeding time. I pointed out the slight differences in their coat to her, so we could try and discourage the second tom cat from arriving at dinner time and adding to my long list of animal food purchases that I make on a weekly basis.

Due to diabetes my mothers eyesight is not what it use to be, so she had great difficulty in distinguishing the difference between the two. Well in my neighborhood, I am known as Jan the Trapper. I have two different sizes of animals traps and when I catch an unwanted visitor I relocate them to another area. There is a river about 5 miles from our house that I have relocated 3 possums and 5 cats safely. I let them out of the trap where they have drinking water and have a means to find food to eat.

Well I decided to try and catch our tom cat and take him down to the Vet and have him fixed, and have a slightly different pitch to his meow, I really was tired of becoming the neighborhood dinner for all stray animals. Well I caught a yellow tom cat, the problem was, that I didn’t think it was our tom. It looked so innocent in the trap and of course my mother was throughly convinced that it was our tom cat, and it was going to the vet and that is all there was to it. While in the back of my mind, I knew this wasn’t our tom cat,
and the thought that I would be altering the future of somebody else’s tom cat as well as paying their vet bill, wasn’t really setting well with my conscience.

But when I remembered the food bill I quickly had a change of heart. So began the drive to the vet. All the way my mother was gently talking to this tom cat and telling it, how everything would be okay. Why do people do that, it wasn’t going to be okay, it was going to lose spare parts. I kept insisting it was the wrong cat,
and it only made matters worse, it just put me deeper in the dog house because I disagreed with her.
We arrived at the vet and once again I expressed my concern that this was the wrong tom cat.
I got that mother Look, you know the look where your toes curl because you know that you are not going to win. I told the vet that we would probably get home and find our tom cat sitting in the front yard with a look of where is my dinner. I was right! We pulled into the driveway and there he was sitting on the porch looking like he had no cares in the world.

I quickly grabbed my cell phone to call the vet to stop them from doing the procedure on the tom cat that didn’t belong to us. Of course it was too late, he already had a higher pitch to his meow. I brought him back to the house and after the anesthesia wore off I let him go. He took one look at me and tried to run, but ended up going in circles. I did see him two days later. All I have to do now, is look at him and say get on out of here, and he is gone like greased lightning!

Now my mother does not mention the tom cat anymore, and I still have not caught the our tom cat for his visit to the vet. But do not worry. His time will come!

Laugh it really is the best medecine!

One of many Funny Stories, as you know I take care of my mother and everyday is truly a new day with new meaning for me. While I am work, my mother gets easily bored and once all of her Soap Opera’s are done for the day, she switches the channel to the Home Shopping Network. Now this wouldn’t be so bad, but she doesn’t just watch it she feels like she really needs to contribute.

Now the downside of this is, the UPS driver knows our address by heart and she has her credit card number memorized so if she sees a fantastic buy she can’t live without she can grab the phone and order it. I never know if it is an outfit that she ordered and will never wear because nothing ever fits her right, when you are 4′11″ nothing fits right. The last fantastic buy she bought was 250 special clothes hangers with a bonus of 100 extra clothes hangers if you ordered that day, these hangers are unique, they are suppose to help you organize your closets. We live in a 4 bedroom house with 5 closets and there are only two of us living there, and one has great difficulty getting around, who do you think will be organizing these 5 closets.

Most days its easier to be at work in the office than going home and working on my momma do’s. I have so many special cleaning gizmos and gadgets that I don’t have anywhere to store them, or course that is because I have to reorganize the closets with these new fantastic hangers.

Let me hear one of your funny stories, Laughter is the best medicine!

The purpose of this blog is to help you to understand, vent, comment or give suggestions of taking care of an elderly parent. I have been living with my 75 year old mother since Sept. 6, 2003. I had my own home in Moore Oklahoma and had my last child graduate from High School and move out on his own the previous year. I worked 3 jobs and life was good. Then my life was turned upside down. I lost my father who was the primary care giver of my mother & my youngest brother who still lived at home and died of a massive heart attack at 41 years old. He became the caregiver when my father no longer could.

My mother had not driven since she was 19 years old, and has many medical ailments and could not live by herself.  She is totally dependent for help around the house, transportation to and from medical appts, her pets etc. My decision was as long as she can feed & clothe herself, take her medicines as needed,  then I would stay with her as long as I could and keep her from assisted living facilities. I made this silly promise to her when I was 16 years old, that I would never put her into a Care Facility, guilt won out, and thus begun the next chapter of my live.

It is not easy taking care of a parent, it is like raising a grown child that has a mind of their own, when they have a bad day you have a bad day because you are the one that is there to hear it, when they are confused or frustrated you still have a bad day because you are still the one there. But don’t get me wrong you have great and good days too, there just may not be as many depending on the level of care that your elderly parent needs. If you decide to take on this mission, you will laugh and cry, and remind yourself constantly why you are doing this.

If you have a sibling that can assist you in the caring of your elderly parent, you are most fortunate. This may give you some relief, a minute for yourself to take a deep breath and smell the roses, so to speak. A fresh out look is always good. Humor is great medicine for the soul, and I laugh a lot!