More valuable than the birds!

Here we are in the middle of a new week and things are still calm around here. Mother continues to sleep much of the time and is only out of bed between two and five hours a day. She is refusing food and drink more often. She doesn’t eat much saying she has already eaten and is not hungry. She doesn’t drink much either, even though I keep a glass of water at her bedside and at her chair all the time. I weigh her on Thursdays each week and am anxious to see what the scales say tomorrow. She has lost twenty-two pounds since she came home the end of August. Most of that was intentional – limiting starches and eliminating sugars from her diet.
Mother has also developed a skin rash this week. It’s something we fight all the time – she seems to be very susceptible to some type of skin infection – partly due to her incontinence. I had noticed it on her back and started treating it this week and when Connie came on Monday to shower her she noticed it had spread quite a bit. Usually treating it with anti-fungal cream takes care of it pretty quickly.
Mother is having a lot more weakness when she tries to support herself - standing or walking. Connie noticed it this morning when she came to shower her. She had me help her get Mother to her chair in the living room after the shower because she was having so much weakness and didn’t want to risk her falling. Sometimes I think I see it, but then wonder if I’m just imagining that she is “different” than the day before. It helps me to know that she really is weaker when Connie or Christy confirms it.
The caretakers from Heartland Hospice that work with Mother are great! They are so gentle and loving and I don’t know what we would do without them! The following quote from Maya Angelou is one of my favorites and I think it definitely applies to our Hospice "angels".

“If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded”. Maya Angelou

Connie is the home health aide who comes three days a week to help Mom shower.

Christy is the nurse who comes once a week to check on Mom – doing an exam and talking about any issues we may have at the time.

Cathy is the Chaplain who comes once a month. She not only sings and prays with Mom, but spends time just visiting with her as well.

Donell is the social worker – coming out once a month just to check on us and make sure there’s nothing we need over and above what’s already being done!
I’m so thankful that we have them to count on for Mother’s care!
Mother is still confused – I know that won’t get better. She thinks she is supposed to be going to school and can’t understand when I tell her that she finished a long time ago. She always loved school and I guess maybe that’s why school is such an issue now. She still believes that she doesn’t live here, but instead lives with her Daddy and Mother. I try to steer clear of actual confrontation about it, but some times it turns into a pretty ugly incident. She gets angry that I won’t let her leave. She even says, in anger, that she will just walk to the house by herself if no one will take her, which is absurd! She can’t even walk without help, but thinks she can! I guess I’ll never understand dementia and where it takes her!
I started keeping my nephew, Ethan, this week while his mom works. Her husband, Jimmy (my brother) started a job as a prison guard a couple of months ago and is staying with Sheila’s parents in Medford. Sheila wants to stay here until the new baby comes in March so that she doesn’t have to change doctors. They have been managing to have time together most weekends since he started the job, but he is now in a 6-week training course and they probably will not get as much time together. His training is in another town – I can’t remember where – but he has to stay there for the entire six weeks.

Ethan is a good little boy – three years old – and is rarely any trouble. He’s pleasant and happy and I’m sure I will enjoy keeping him. Sheila had been leaving him with her cousin in Del City who has kept him since she first went back to work after Ethan was born. Sheila works so close to home that the drive to Del City, every morning and every evening, was becoming difficult for her. Her cousin is also pregnant – to be induced tomorrow – so being able to leave him with me – next door – will be much easier on both Sheila and her cousin.
My sister called me last night to let me know that her oldest son, who is a marine in the reserves, has been told that he will be deployed this year. They’re not sure where he will go, and won’t know until right before he leaves, but it’s frightening anyway – knowing that he could be going into harm’s way! He seems so young and is newly married – just last year. He’s grown into a great young man – a good Christian man – and I know he will be in God’s care.
My daughter, Candace, is still trying to make decisions regarding her marriage. She has moved back home and they are trying to work together for the boys’ sakes, but she is still having a difficult time and definitely needs prayer. She feels pressured to make some decisions that she’s not comfortable with right now. It’s hard to see your child going through the things she’s confronted with and I wish I could take away the hurt and make everything good, but I know I can’t do that. These are decisions she and her husband will have to make and hopefully they will let God lead them through to the right resolution.
I’m not doing very well sticking to my “List of Commitments”. I could certainly use prayer to strengthen my willpower and dedication. I am exercising each day – that’s certainly an improvement, but I’m not making the best food choices nor am I drinking enough water. I’m afraid I drink too much diet Dr Pepper and coffee!
I’m still enjoying the birds eating at the feeders. The rooster, peacock and guineas are still regular scavengers under the feeder, too. The guineas are pretty loud! I think they must be in competition with the donkey that lives next door!

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!”--Luke 12:22-24