So much has happened!

Geez, we really rely on our blogs to keep people updated, and it was really a bummer that Blogger has been down for at least two days, maybe longer!

We went to Pittsburg, had some fun in the casino and spent the night there.  Rick's meeting was cancelled just before we arrived, so we were able to leave earlier on Tuesday and we drove to Fishkill, NY, about 4 hours from our destination. 

We met up with Elaine from our diabetic blog around 10:00 on Wednesday, then drove to Christine's and arrived about lunch time.  We were all pretty happy to be out of the car, although I have to say mom was a really good traveler.  I turned on her favorite music (thank you XM Radio for Willie's Roadhouse) and handed her a netbook with a slot machine game.  And we didn't hear from her for hours except for when she was singing along with the music or telling us about hitting "a big one"...lol.

She was definitely a little confused at Christine's, which was only the 5th different "bedroom" she'd experienced in a week.  The first morning she showed up in our room before 6:00 and said she didn't know where she was, so that was an early wake-up call for us.  She settled down a bit and was actually pretty good until today. 

Yesterday we got the required pre-admission physical done by the doctor she was seeing before we brought her out to KC. Well, actually, it was his nurse practitioner Pam, who was absolutely wonderful. Every time I've brought mom to that office, someone has spent at least an hour with us! Not sure how they make money, but they do not short-change their patients one bit. Pam ran some labs (metabolic panel and CBC) and just happened to call me back around lunchtime today with the results that everything was absolutely perfect. She also recommended that we take her off the Aricept, because it doesn't seem to be doing much. And because mom no longer needs to take ANY meds, we don't have to pay the extra $650 a month for assisted living. Between the cost of the drugs and the extra charges related to assisted living, we are saving almost $30,000 over the next 3 years!!!  We'll keep an eye on her and if we notice her memory is deterioting any faster, we'll reconsider. 


Today was a rough day - mom was very upset and crying, thinking that we were "leaving her behind". She cried from the moment we left Christine's. We couldn't convince her that she was really "home", despite trying to explain that we were all going to be here together. And then, her roommate Mary came to get her. And took her away for the rest of the day. Right now, I think Mary is a godsend! She shepherded mom all day from meals to activities, including the standard Friday afternoon "social hour" with live music, then back to the apartment. Mom was smiling and happy by the time we left. Mary is a leader, mom is a follower, and I am hopeful that this relationship is going to work.

We got almost everything unpacked and organized, set up her tv, and left her apartment with just 1/2 box of stuff that didn't need to be there.  We still have some things to do because we left a few things behind until we could see what the apartment could accommodate.  Luckily, Mary had already provided a fully-furnished living room and dining area.  So most of mom's furniture with the exception of the bedroom is not needed at the moment.  The maintenance technician will hang all her pictures and pretty much anything we want on the walls for her.  Joe was a sweetheart and very helpful.

She's sleeping in her own bed tonight and I can finally relax a little!

Michelle