Yes, that’s right, today was a good day. Mom was alert much of the day and didn’t sleep hardly at all. She, Andrew and I went on a little outing to Starbucks. We sat and talked a bit and had a really good time. We can back home and she rested for a couple of hours and then we went back out on the town, all old people style, to get a prescription filled for dad and get some pizza for dinner. She didn’t need any pain medication until about two o’clock this afternoon. She had a good breakfast and ate dinner. I even got her to drink a full glass of fiber supplement. I can’t even tell you how nice it was to have such a good day!
Dad on the other hand was not feeling well. He has been on a steady decline since Friday’s trip to the ER for mom. We finally got results back from the doctor on his chest x-ray. The pneumonia is back so they put him back on antibiotics. Hopefully we can go a week without stress and he can finally get better. He has got to want it though. He has got to want it all the way and not just to the point where he doesn’t feel horrible anymore. Having both of them down and out is just too difficult to manage, so I am really hoping he can get over this. My sister and I were talking this evening about the wonderful day we had with mom and about dad’s situation. She brought up a good point. He is so filled with anger and hatred towards the doctor for mom’s condition that there doesn’t seem to be much room for anything else. So he gets himself sick again with all that anger bottling him up.
I am really hoping that the good day mom had today is an indication that the mom we saw the past week was just her recovery from chemo. I hate to think it took a week for her to recover, but I hope that is the case. At least we would know that she has 2 more good weeks until we go through it again (if they continue on with chemo treatments). That would be so awesome. Of course her feeling better brings on the new challenge that she is more active and more prone to falling, but I will take that. She is also more aware of things that she wants to do, but still doesn’t have the mental focus to do like the bills. We talked about the bills a bit today and she was trying to explain how she does it, but couldn’t think of the right words. Now to be fair, I set her up. I know how she does it already, but I was asking her the question to keep her involved and make her feel like she is still needed in areas like that. I can’t imagine there is any harm in that. She does need to still feel like there are things to live for, so I hope that I am doing the right thing by ‘including’ her in those tasks. Going through mail is another of those tasks. That was her job. So when she is feeling up to it I let her do it until she gets tired and realizes she is just shifting papers back and forth and not really getting much accomplished. Then she tells me, “Okay maybe you can finish this up while I rest a bit.”
Andrew, her grandson, was really good with her today as well. He was so patient and helpful. It was really nice to see that. Plus it allowed me to slip away and get in a nap, which was wonderful for me 🙂 I do love my naps. Late afternoon naps are the best. Andrew only has a couple more days here and then he has to go back home. Mom is going to be so sad to see him leave. She really adores Andrew and thinks he is such a neat kid. Dad likes spending time and talking with Andrew as well.
Well I think that sums up the day. We shall see what fun stuff tomorrow brings!