Tag: aging
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Happy 80th Birthday, Mom!
Just about to hop in the shower and pick up my sister from the airport to celebrate our mother’s 80th birthday! It’s a miracle she’s with us. She’s a survivor of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, stroke and vascular dementia. She’s a fighter. Proud of her.
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Vascular Dementia and Psychosis
My husband, son & I are visiting my sister, her family, and the in-laws (my sister and I married brothers) in Oregon. Beautiful outside. We can see Mt. St. Helens peaking out in the distance, but it doesn’t really show up in this photo. Trying to focus on nature’s beauty to give my mind and…
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Clearing Out
Sunday evening I relaxed after spending the afternoon letting my husband grab his favorite tools from my father’s garage before Hughes Estate Sales takes everything not now in storage. After consulting with my sister, decided to move and store very little – the rest we will sell or donate to charity. No sense spending a…
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I've Been Really Busy
I haven’t been blogging as much recently because I’ve simply been too busy to do so. Moved my parents into Silverado Memory Care Community in San Juan Capistrano Wednesday. My parents are getting excellent care at Silverado. Already they have participated in the social hour and taken a Zumba exercise class. The caregivers are attentive.…
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My Parents Are Still Apart
Overwhelmed with feelings of guilt. Trying to do the best I can. The assisted living memory care where my father has been staying cannot accommodate my mother’s difficulty swallowing liquids due to her stroke. My mother is back in skilled nursing after a psychiatric stay for major depression and behavioral changes due to a UTI…
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Time for Geriatric Psychiatric Hospitalization
Tuesday I took my mother from her stroke rehab to the hospital for a swallow test. When we returned to her stroke rehab afterwards, she refused to get out of my car. She went so far as to throw my car into park when I was driving toward the entrance. I warned her that her…
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Shut Up Mind, Let Me Rest
Woke up in the wee hours of the morning. Mind won’t let me rest. Too many loose ends to tie. Found lovely memory care for both my parents in my neighborhood, so they can stay together and I can visit regularly. Today must get durable power of attorney signed and notarized, so my sister and…
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Thoughts Intrude
Thoughts intrude Throw plate in sink Let it shatter loudly I see myself doing it The image, the impulse is there There – in my mind No! I respond Turn left NOW in front of oncoming traffic No! No! No! Don’t do it Wait for the green arrow Yell at, argue with, my son, my husband…
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I’m No April Fool
This admittedly amateurish attempt at April Fool’s Day poetry (yes, that’s rather heavy-handed alliteration – accept it, I like it, I’m on A roll) I originally wrote for STIGMAMA.com. I may not be a polished or proficient poet, but perhaps I am indeed a fool… Perhaps, just perhaps, NOW THERE ARE TWO OF US. Even more likely, now…