Mom is 89 years old today and I'm here with her now.
I'm sitting on the new couch at Palermo, waiting and listening while the nurse Sandy (short from Sandipat) gently talks mom through the Pas de Deux called Having A Shower. I'm glad we have Sandy here to help in this way. Mom's got a hospital-type bed in the living room. It's right next to the sunny doorway onto their patio deck, and on the other side of the bed is the piano.
I'm here for a few hours while dad goes to the hospital for a heart stress test. He's had his own health issues springing up during these past several months. He thinks he might have to get another stint installed. He recently had a pacemaker put in, and a few years before that he had stints put in. Which reminds me, brother Gerry had a couple of stints put in last summer. Just like that he went from 90% blockage and regular chest pains to "normal."
Mom's heart is a trooper, but these days it is under seige. She's been losing weight and is down to about 100lbs. The muscles of her heart are deteriorating steadily. It's like the central power station is on the fritz. It affects all of her systems and her thinking from time to time. She's very, very tired. On oxygen all the time.
I'm glad I can be here with her today.
"Glen I want out of here," I hear her voice from the bathroom. She is sitting in the shower and wants to get out. So I go into the bathroom and Sandy and I lift mom off the shower seat and into the chair. Mom doesn't want to get dressed in the bathroom; she wants to go into the bedroom to get dressed, so that's what we do.
The green outfit is one of mom's favourites. In a few minutes we've got her hair brushed and she perked up for a nice birthday photo.
Happy Birthday Mom!
For another article about Mom called Dorothy Jean Brown, Loving and Caring click https://brown-history.blogspot.com/2016/12/dorothy-jean-brown.html
