A Daughter's Stories About an Aging Parent: Sharing Tips & Facts Learned Along The Way
It appears that the Florida Triangle is alive and well and actively swallowing everything in sight inside my mother Ginny’s apartment. Over the last several months, she has lost both hearing aids, a gift card I had given her for Christmas, a shoe horn, her glasses, a library book, a birthday present and a television…
Read more The Florida Triangle: A Look at Losing “Stuff” & Memory
I was visiting my 88-year-old mother Ginny one rainy afternoon and was doing her laundry. As I waited for two loads to go through the washer and dryer, and the storm continued outside, I decided to ask her an old question I had always been curious about. I was familiar with her childhood and being…
Read more How To Hold Onto An Aging Parent’s Favorite Stories
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…
I have muddled feelings this morning. I woke just before 6:00 a.m. with a startled shake. I had just dreamt that I was simultaneously looking for and hiding from my mother because she had a gun. We were at some huge outdoor event. I kept running into people I knew and telling them what was…
My recent mistake with the cable company is back to haunt me. They are switching to a digital signal and all customers need new converter boxes before the deadline. This includes my 88-year-old mother. During a past visit, I had brought the wrong box (previous post) back from their sales office to hook up to…
This post is a little different as I’m stepping outside of the larger story to move my legs a bit and share my hopeful intent. As you’ve read, I am living day-to-day with helping my elderly mom. I’m definitely in the thick of it. Somewhere in there, I wanted to write it down. It started…
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…
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…
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…
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…
