Leavingthedooropen.com

Category: Helping an Aging Parent

  • Sweet Memories of Baseball…Through Smell?

    While searching for links regarding the elderly and memories, I found this timely article.  Apparently, there is a nursing home in New York which built a kiosk featuring six ballpark scents residents can smell by hitting a button. Its purpose is to stimulate long-term memory through scent. With the All-Star Break just a couple of…

  • Mom, Puzzles and a Little Peace of Mind

    Herman Wouk. Ken Follett. David Baldacci. Barack Obama. What do these authors have in common? They have all kept my elderly mother Ginny company at one time or another. Books have been Ginny’s go-to hobby for as long as I can remember. She really is a bookworm. She’ll check out three or four books at…

  • Shades of Change III

    I’ve been thinking about Ginny’s future over the last week. Sometimes, she enters my thoughts as I’m fading towards sleep and sometimes she is my first thought of the day. Sometimes, I lay awake. So far, she has not exhibited additional dementia-type symptoms, so that’s significant, but a return of vertigo always looms. Plus, given…

  • Shades of Change II

    It is lunch and tour day at The Groves. While I take mom to get her hair done, Betsy and Dennis drive to two other facilities for pricing and to get a glimpse of their interiors. Apparently, they are beautiful, however, their monthly cost is significantly higher than $2400.00/month. Additionally, neither offer “Medicaid beds.” A…

  • Shades of Change Part I

    Ginny has a friend named Lois who has been in her condo complex for 25 years. Lois knows people. She had been on the board for many years and has always been a source of information for mom. They used to go to lunch and local plays together. They weren’t best friends, but she has…

  • The Unwelcome Visitor

    Ginny called today. I should lay out the back story first. It begins about three years ago. She had a young woman named Carly as a next-door neighbor. Carly had a boyfriend who often stayed with her. Apparently, they would occasionally play music late at night which woke her up. Since sleep is a huge…

  • When The Money Runs Out

    When my mother Ginny moved to Florida in 2000, she was 70 years-old and had the money from the sale of her condo, an inheritance from her stepmother, and her monthly Social Security check.  These funds were placed into a brokerage account and she received a check every month for her expenses. Over 17 years,…

  • Car Trouble

    Awful. That’s how we feel. We’ve had an issue lurking in the background for a while now and it seems like we can’t prolong it any longer. At age 87, we are going to have to convince my mother Ginny to give up her car. Ginny loves that car. When she moved from Cleveland, she…

  • Prologue

    Her debilitating vertigo has returned. Although she has visited the Balance Institute twice to relieve the dizziness, it isn’t working as well this time. I arrive in town to take her to her next appointment. Stupidly, I take her out to lunch first. As they are trying to go through the maneuvers to shift the…