Saturday, June 5, 2010

More pictures from Memorial Day weekend

Dolly and Marion (her best bud at Epoch)
 Micheal, Mom, and Anna


Nancy, Kathy, Mom and Anna


 Nancy, Mom and Kathy



 Mom and Dave
 Anna and Michael

Julie and Nick's fine cuisine (my plate)
Dolly and Josephine

 Nancy and Kathy

 Anna and Julie

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Dolly update.

It's already June.

It's been 1 year and 16 days since Dolly's stroke.

It's been a crazy ride with Dolly over the past year. A lot of worrying, accepting, anger and settling. I still do her laundry, even though I am secretly planting the seed for her to let the facility do them. I still visit with her often, and my visits are easier the more time passes. She has many friends in the nursing home, she hates to be away from them for too long. She loves to gossip. She soaks up every detail of her friends' family and visitors. It's very entertaining.

Julie and I take her out when we can. Julie takes her shopping. I can't imagine Julies patience for this, as I know that Dolly gets childish. I have taken her shopping, and it can be a real test. Dinner is a test as well when we take her out. Dolly wants to hear the whole menu (she has trouble reading) and protests loudly when she hears options that are 'not to her liking'. It's like a kid having a fit "NO, NO, NO...!!". She sometimes refuses to eat with utensils, which can also be very frustrating. Do you think she will grow up?

We are still in the process of cleaning her house out. She has so much stuff, it defies logic. There have been multiple carloads of stuff donated to Boomerang and the Salvation Army. I estimate about 20 car loads so far, but I can't be sure because my car is not the only one that has been loaded. Recently, we have enlisted a friend to sell some of the collectible stuff on Ebay and to include some of Dolly's stuff in a yardsale that she is having. We have to sell her house, and soon! She is running out of money so fast. We have been paying out of pocket for her room and board, medication, and incidentals for over 10 months. I can't even speculate how much money that is, but it's been at least $11,000 a month, not to mention the amount of money paid to the IRS on her behalf. I did not want this to turn into another rant, sorry.

This past weekend, Anna and her husband Michael came for a long weekend visit. It was wonderful. We went out every day that they were here. We planned to take Mom out for dinner on Saturday night, but she didn't feel well. We took her out for Memorial day at Julie and Nicks. Anna picked her up and took her home. I was off the hook. It was a gorgeous day except for the smokey air from the Quebec fires. She had a wonderful time. There was some bad behavior(we are getting used to that), but she stayed alert and awake for the whole time (about 5 hours) so I am very proud of her stamina. She didn't even get car sick, and that was a long ride.


Dolly and Anna.