The new year has arrived and it has been a hectic one for me so far. My daughter and I spent New Year's Eve with our good friends next door. It was a quiet celebration but we did have good conversation and a lot of laughs.
New Year's day brought out the suitcases and I did manage to get my Christmas tree down. But I had to pack as we left on Sunday, Jan. 2 for our all day trip to southwest Iowa to see my mother. We arrived that evening not knowing what we might find and were shocked to discover how weak she was and the condition of the apartment. Her so called cleaning/helper hadn't been there since before Christmas and then I don't think she had done a thing.
The floors were dirty and the stove was dirty as well as the countertops. Since my mom's fall she had been afraid she might fall again and was actually afraid to cook for herself so had been surviving on cottage cheese, yogurt and toast. She was getting one meal a day from Meals on Wheels, however, they don't come on weekends and took off on Christmas eve as well as New Year's eve. No one from Public Health bothered to check on her and they all knew her helper was on vacation but didn't send anyone out. They also knew she had fallen and needed help but again didn't bother to send anyone.
My daughter and I got some food and fixed a decent meal for her, cleaned up the kitchen and visited with her until we went back to the motel.
Monday morning, we went back to her apartment to start the process of sorting and packing her things. My brother arrived around noon and we had a visit mid morning from the Social Worker and Director of Nursing to make the arrangements to admit my mother into the nursing home. Later that day, we were able to get her dressed and out to my nieces van for a trip to the bank and the optometrist to have her glasses repaired. It was a hard trip for her as she was so weak so she rested after we returned and we all worked together packing and sorting. We had a good meal that night and worked until almost 9 PM before going back to the motel.
We were to take her on Tuesday morning but she wasn't ready and it was just as well as I had to go see an attorney to get the Power of Attorney. In the meantime, my brother, niece and daughter were still packing. There was so much to sort through and divide up between my sister and brother and myself. It is amazing how we don't notice all the little things until we have to sort them out and how much a person can accumulate until it needs to be packed or discarded.
We were able to get her settled into the nursing home on Tuesday afternoon and spent more time than we intended due to paper work and making sure she was settled in good. We got something to eat and headed back to finish our work.
It was almost 11 PM when we called it a night. My daughter's car was packed as full as we could get it and still have room for our suitcases and us. We visited a while with my brother and niece and then called it a night.
Wednesday, Jan. 5: We stopped by the nursing home to see my mom and put up some pictures for her and then we started our long trip home. I hated to leave so soon but my daughter had to get back to work. We had a late start but decided not to make as many stops and she held the speed limit. We were fortunate also that we didn't have a lot of construction zones and were able to breeze through Kansas City as hit it during an off time so traffic wasn't so heavy. It still took us over 8 1/2 hours and we were tired but glad to be home.
We got the car unloaded the next evening and spent the past weekend going through the things we brought home. My daughter was having a ball going through all the old pictures and I had brought back all my mother's crochet books and yarn since she can no longer see to crochet and I'm the only one in the family besides my younger daughter who crochets.
By Sunday, I could feel the effects of being in the colder weather we experienced in Iowa and that night the cough began as well as the stuffy nose and I've been fighting the crud ever since. We got our first blast of winter on Sunday as well. Only an inch of snow but had freezing drizzle too which made it worse. My daughter and grandson weren't able to get to work yesterday as most of our area was shut down due to the road conditions. However, she was going in today.
So as this new year begins, there were some big changes. My mother is settling into her new home and is getting stronger and knows she has someone with her now. She actually accepted this life style change better than I thought so I hope she will continue to be happy there.
I've been going through and getting her personal affairs in order and my brother and nephew will be making one more trip to Iowa to clear out her apartment and clean it before the end of the month.
I just hope this blast of winter that hit us will be the last but if not, then hope we don't have any really bad stuff. I do not like the cold but I hate the snow and ice even worse.
But I am going to look on 2011 with new hope and confidence that it will be a better year for all of us.
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