Today had it’s pretty special moments, like this picture of Mom and Dad enjoying the morning on the porch swing:
My sister made a nice little breakfast for mom and dad, they sat at the table and ate a proper meal. It was really nice to see a few moments of peace given the struggles we have had lately. After breakfast, Mom wanted to go sit outside. It was preparing to be a warm (dang near hot) day today and it was such a nice morning for a sit on the front porch. While they sat there, the kids (when not snapping pictures) got to ready for the day. My sister and her friend were going to head out to get a cake and some candles to celebrate my father’s and my nephew’s birthday this month. I was getting ready to head to the drug store to fill a prescription for mom and then to the grocery store to get a few things we needed for the house.
After doing some birthday celebrations my sister’s friend headed back to her home and my sister, nephew and I got to doing some yard work. Mom sat out on the front porch again while we pulled weeds, trimmed hedges and the roses and cleared out the flower beds. I also took care of watering the plants on the porch.
It would have been great if it could have stayed that wonderful all day, but sadly we are dealing with advanced cancer. Mom is turning out to be one heck of a stubborn patient. We have to get after her to lift her feet up when she is sitting down to help with the swelling in her legs and also having to bug her a lot about drinking enough fluids so that she remains hydrated. She hates this. Nag, nag, nag is all she is hearing. She also doesn’t seem to like it when I point out how much she nagged dad to drink and do things he didn’t want to do. By late afternoon it was getting to be too difficult to keep her sitting. She was uncomfortable and fidgety and just wanted to move about. You’d get her to sit, turn your back and she was off and running somewhere. Well running isn’t quite the accurate description of her speed, but you get the picture.
Dad was starting to get anxious that she wouldn’t stay put and while I didn’t really want to, I gave her a diazepam pill to calm her nerves. I was hoping that I wouldn’t need to use those because they are just too strong. I have on my list of things to discuss with the doctor on Tuesday any alternatives to diazepam for getting her to sleep at night and to calm her when she starts getting fidgety. Getting her into bed last night was quite a chore. About an hour after we got her down, I found her sitting in her computer desk chair sleeping. I know she is most comfortable at the moment sitting up sleeping, but we worry about the edema. I don’t need to add a blood clot in her leg to the list of things going on. Again about 5:30 am she was standing in the kitchen. My sister saw her and asked her what she was doing. She said that she wanted coffee. My sister said okay and then went to the bathroom. When my sister came back out, mom was back in bed. My sister asked her if she still wanted coffee and she said she thought she couldn’t have any. My sister helped her get to the kitchen and mom proceeded to make the coffee. It breaks my heart to think my mother feels like she can’t do something in her own home like make coffee, but the reality of the situation is that she needs to be looked after while doing it.
She has many lucid moments, but they are interspersed with these other moments where you aren’t quite sure if she it alright. Here is a picture of one of those ‘other’ moments. It was taken about a half hour after the one above. This head down posture is how we see her most of the time these days.
Well I think that sums up the day. We shall see what fun stuff tomorrow brings!