Road Trip
Tomorrow morning I head to the east side of our state for two garden install events on Wednesday and Friday. On Thursday, the educator and I will visit a community she’s already teaching in, and one 30 minutes away that we want to get on the calendar for another garden rollout. On our drive over, […]
Patience
I have ZERO patience when people in my life who should keep their shit together don’t, or can’t. This is a direct fall-out of having a parent with dementia. I need to: Give people more grace. Realize not everyone has a memory for minutia. Know that folks are juggling things I know nothing about. Step […]
Fall
Beau, the Health Services Director at mom’s community called me this morning. Mom fell in the hall on her way to breakfast. A staff member saw her hit her head on her way down. I didn’t get whether it was the wall or floor. The only thing that might have been injured was her pride. […]
Mom’s Knee
The care staff at mom’s community have been in increasing contact regarding mom’s knee. This spring mom went on an outing to our regional tulip fields where she took a fall. Not bad, or with lingering effects, but it’s our state’s law that these things have to be reported to the family and the state. […]
Compensation
I spent January 1, 2017 to December 26, 2018 commuting back and forth to the Island in order to mitigate 20-years of deferred maintenance on mom’s property. This, so the property could be leased, and become an income source for her. It took approximately 20% of my time. Other than reimbursing myself for mileage, and […]
Weekend Island Trip
The trip to the Island was packed. It had three goals: The property – The Island tenants reported that the propane fireplace was reluctant to fire. This didn’t surprise me at all, as the fireplace seems to hate me! I was able to get it to light right away, and left them a note with […]
Continuing Complaints
Jerry, our Fire Marshal, texted me Monday to let me know the case against mom’s mainland house has been reopened due to new complaints. He also emailed me and the tenant: “Apparently the City is getting further complaints about continued finish work on going at the mainland house. Please see the comments from our code compliance […]
More Mainland House Maintenance
I love my tenants. They are so independent: know how to change a light bulb, truly love living in the house, and are such kind and real people. However, when they message me with an issue, I know it needs taking care of NOW. The latest is the kitchen faucet. The valve is, at 32-years […]
How Many Steps Does it Take to Get Mom to Take Tylenol?
I received voice mail from mom’s AL community on September 5th. Here’s the rundown… The care staff was concerned that mom isn’t using her cane safely, is limping more due to her arthritic knee, and perhaps should see Dr. O. Maybe more PT? She is also refusing Tylenol, offered by care staff when they see […]
Variety Show
Mom’s community put on their 2nd annual variety show this evening. We called mom last night and suggested the three of us sing On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at. Mom was game! I created a lyric sheet this morning that was mostly English, but had the bit of the Yorkshire dialect in it; the version of […]
Dementia Dance - Travels with Mom 