Yeah.....I sure could use some encouragement about my mom, but didn't think anyone was still here and I quit the caring for aging parents group (too negative and a few members are nasty).
My mom is in independent living, but is losing her memory.....fast. She is going for testing after the new year....however, she is bucking me about every choice and getting her help. She claims she is fine and refuses help. I am deemed the 'bad daughter" for trying to help :(
Trying to keep my spirits up.....but she is nasty to me and in deep denial about her failing memory.
I also suspect she might be having mini strokes as she is weak and getting weaker. Even tho she is in a wheelchair.....she keeps falling and refuses to have paramedics help her.....she insists that the maintenance workers where she live help her up. I confronted them and told them under NO uncertain circumstances should they help her as she has a VERY bad back and need proper assistance (that is why she is in a wheelchair). I told them I don't care if mom refuses help from paramedics.....call them anyways!

I meet with the wellness center and the nurse on January 6th to make arrangements to have my mom's medicine monitored. I also went to the pharmacy to have her meds automatically refilled as my mom has that all screwed up. The pharmacy has also failed to have mom's meds delivered and have had to go there in person to have that fixed a few times. Last week I ended up talking to the store manager.....still don't know if it is fixed. Headed out to pay mom's rent and stop by the pharmacy to see if everything is right and to give a few meds not on mom's list to them....OY!!!!

Plz everyone......if you head out today/ tonight.....NO DRINKING AND DRIVING.....and watch out for those that do. Happy, Healthy New Years!!!!

Hey there - can you get mom into a Memory Care unit where they will monitor her? Don't know if expenses are greater, I'm assuming they are because of increased caregiving. You are absolutely correct about maintenance workers not picking mom up from the floor! Could be a terrible result...

Boy, your story is tough but not foreign to many folks caring for aging parents. Seems they always turn on the ones who help them!

Hope you have POAs for healthcare and finances, etc. Sadly, many of them fight us on these POAs too.

Seems like you have so much on your plate, and then with the nasty weather to boot. You know I'm sending cyber hugs for whatever that's worth :)

Thanks Mystic....sorry to rant....but thanks for letting me.
I'm POA for her health and what little is left of her estate.
She is scraping the bottom of the barrel and so a memory care facility is out. I'd also like to keep her at the facility where she is cuz everyone knows her (and me) there including and especially the staff. They will let her move into a studio apartment and then we could use the money for her care. Hoping she will never need more care than medication monitoring becuz I'd have to move her into a state funded nursing facility. She only has a small pension and SS and a small chunk of change from the sale of her house. I've been footing the bill for moving her there, and other odds and ends which have added up to about 15K....maybe more....I lost count. However, I can not continue to save her butt for all her bad choices or I'll be living on the streets in my old age.

Thanks for the hugs....they are greatly appreciated and felt across the miles....right back atcha my friend!

Happy New Year!!!!

Only exciting thing going on in my life seems to be some indigestion. I've never had it before, it's not that bad, but it's annoying. I even woke up throwing up one day last week. I think I'm going to have to break down and get some tagamet or something. Tums at the least (yeah, I don't do drugs...lol).

As for drinking and driving. Well I'll admit to it. I picked up a chocolate milk shake as I dropped my son off at his friend's house for the night. My daughter and I watched the ball drop in NYC, she's crashed, and I'm still up because my tummy's acting up....head's bobbing though...

Night All,
and again, Happy New Year!!!!

http://www.publicholidays2016.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/happy_new_year_2016.jpg
hugs Jade

Love that happy champagne glass/confetti pic Yade, thanks!

Patti...indigestion, exciting...nope! Not fun, help yourself, feel better! Your kinda drinking and driving is okay...you wild woman, you!

MsBlank, you're indeed in a rough place. My BFF in Illinois managed her mom's stuff and after mom went through all of her money, got her into a very nice Medicaid Alzheimer's place in Algonquin. She states the rules are all of mom's money had to be used/spent down to $2,000 then she was on Medicaid and her memory care living, healthcare, everything was paid for. In her case it was a nice new facility and she was very, very happy with her mom's care until mom died. I know they are not all like that. Illinois took mom's Social Security (her only income) and then paid for everything else. She would buy some clothing and other things mom needed, but not too much as not much was needed. Her mom was safe and cared for, so important.

Please care for yourself MsBlank, okay?

Happy New Year 2016 to all!

Oh man, what a difference Prilosec and Tums make!!! Just saying. Best night's sleep in 2 weeks! I'm not a big drug user (even legal ones), but wow...

Patti~ am glad you got some relief. I went through that a few years ago. I too had to subcom to drugs. I am thankful it has passed.
I have a friend that won't even take an aspirin....and he agonizes and is unproductive for hours and sometimes days! OY
Being diabetic......I don't have a choice on taking meds....*sigh

I so agree about these friends who ABSOLUTELY, NEVER, EVER take meds or go to a doc when they are dying. Really? Does one think they will move through their entire life and never need anything? Patti knows that ingidestion/GERD is dangerous and can cause throat cancer (or so I've been told). Another friend absolutely will not go get antibiotics for severe sinus infections where she suffers for weeks. Why, oh why? Everyone knows we shouldn't over-use or -prescribe antibiotics but gosh, they are there for a reason.

This is a pet peeve of mine. Take a Tums or whatever for GERD, take an aspirin or ibuprofen for a headache or other aches; get antibiotics for an infection. Treat your body kindly but don't overdo. Okay, climbing down off my soapbox now.

Carry on...

Thanks. I actually felt like a "drug user" for a day or so. I try to tough it out...mostly that works, but New Years Eve night was...not happy. I've had BAD hangovers that have felt better... I've had this weird thing where I've felt the food going down my throat for a month or two, I think it may be related, but it was more of a curiosity and I've just ignored it. It's totally disappeared after a day on Prilosec. The box says to take every day for 2 weeks, and if needed beyond that to see a doctor...so I'm going with that.

Time to shed a few pounds that I've gained over the past year...just for this issue. Tums is good for the calcium too.

Hey! and Hi!!!! So glad to hear the old voices here! Happy New Year to each and every one of you!

MsB.....I too have had head buried in Mom issues....breast cancer, mastectomy, chemo and now radiation, but she is clear as of PET scan end of December!!!!!! Great Wonderful and Awesome news as she was stage 3 before she finally started making decisions and taking action. I have spent the last 8 months away from home, DH, DD and D to be SIL dealing with Mom, stepfather, Dad and stepmonster, chemo brain, hearing aide issues and general OLD FOLKS behaving badly issues.....finally came home for Christmas an empty shell of a person....totally used up! But here a month later I am feeling more like my old self....but making up excuses to NOT RETURN to the Drama going on with Mom...sister is nearby and can handle things from here......or as BarbaraJean has told me many many times....what would they do if you were dead????

Okay...I am gushing just a little....just happy to find you all here and doing okay!

Estrangement is still the same....5 years since I have seen middle ES and 3 years since I have had contact with oldest ES.....10 years since this BS started and we (DH and I) are doing fine...well....yeah, Fine.

DD is getting married in May.....lots of drama there and I am practicing what I have learned this past year about helping/supporting vs doing it all for someone(deserving or not). BOUNDARIES.....VERY IMPORTANT! LOL Who says an old dog like me can't learn new tricks!

Hugs, hugs and more hugs!

D.

Hey ArmyMom, glad to see ya! So very, very sorry for your troubles. You are a good and loyal daughter! Sometimes those OLD FOLKS issues are insurmountable, eh? Your mom is recovering, and for that I'm glad. And you have found your way home...

Sending big cyber hugs!