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Week of 15 July 2002

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Monday, 15 July 2002

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10:17 - The start of another week, and one in which I suspect we'll see some changes. Nothing is certain yet, but I suspect they'll move my mother to a nursing home this week. Of course, we hope one of the nursing homes we put on our short list will have a position available for her. I'm not sure what the visiting hours are at the various nursing homes we've listed, but I'll spend as much time with my mother as I can, at least for the first week or ten days, just to make sure she settles in.

She's doing a lot better mentally than she was a week ago. She was, of course, extremely depressed about her fall and the need to go to a nursing home, but now she's pretty much back to her old self, doing her crossword puzzles, reading her books, and so on. She's still in quite a bit of pain and is frequently nauseated, probably from the medication, but she seems to be perking up nicely. I'm going to publish this, take the dogs out for a short walk, and then head down to the hospital. I'm not getting any work done, of course, but that's to be expected.

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Tuesday, 16 July 2002

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8:57 - They told us yesterday that they were ready to move my mother to a nursing home today. The Bryan Center has an available place, so that's where she'll be going. Although I haven't visited any of the nursing homes on our list--it seemed pointless since they were all highly recommended and we were certainly going to take a position offered at any of them--I did very much like the two young women from Bryan Center who came out to visit my mother last week. They were enthusiastic about their facility and said that during their last state inspection they'd gotten zero down checks, which was apparently the first time that had ever been done in North Carolina. Also, when Barbara ran the Rural Hall Branch Library, one of her patrons worked at the Bryan Center and had nothing but good things to say about it. So I'm sure it's a good facility.

I have to go out there at 10:00 this morning to sign paperwork and so on. They're releasing my mom from the hospital at 12:30 this afternoon. They'll bring up a gurney, transfer her from her bed to that, move her via ambulance to the nursing home, and then transfer her to her bed. I was going to go down to the hospital to see her off, but we decided it made more sense for me just to wait for her at the nursing home. I'll spend the time between the meeting and mom's arrival scoping the place out. After she arrives I'll get her settled in and then head back to the house to get some of her stuff. She'll be a lot happier surrounded by her own things.

Fortunately, the Bryan Center is literally five minutes from our house, which'll make it easy and convenient to visit her. It's also in the same direction as the drug store and other places that Barbara goes frequently, so she'll be able to stop in frequently to drop off library books and so on. I think this is going to work out well.

 

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Wednesday, 17 July 2002

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Thursday, 18 July 2002

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Friday, 19 July 2002

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10:22 - They moved my mother to the Bryan Center nursing home on Tuesday afternoon, and I've been getting her settled in ever since. She has her TV and CD player installed and working. No telephone as yet. I asked them about installing a phone line, and they suggested I wait a while. The phone company installs the phone line directly to the room. There's no telling how long it'll take them to install it, and they may move my mother down to the first floor before too long. The lady at the nursing home said that we might get the phone line installed and have my mother moved with a few days after the installation. I could, of course, re-cross-connect the line, but I suspect the Bryan Center wouldn't want me punching down stuff in their equipment room. Oh, well. Barbara left her cell phone, which'll do for now.

As I expected, there have been a few glitches in getting mom settled in. Yesterday morning, she was very upset by a number of things, so I wrote all of them down in a list and asked Lea (who is the Director of Nursing) if we could meet. She came up to mom's room shortly after, and we got everything hashed out. I went back to the nursing home again last night, and mom was very upbeat and cheerful. I think she's actually going to like it there once she gets settled.

I finally gave out Wednesday and Thursday. I went to visit Wednesday morning. When I got home, I stretched out on the bed to take a nap and ended up sleeping until nearly dinner time. Same thing Thursday. I was minus on sleep, but now I think I'm caught up. Our friends Paul and Mary from the astronomy club took me out for dinner Wednesday evening, which was a nice break. They're both delightful people, and it was nice just to relax with them. After dinner, we headed for the astronomy club meeting. I stopped off to see mom on the way home from that.

The dogs have been good overall, but of course they expect me to pay attention to them constantly when I'm home. Literally five minutes after we get back from a walk, Duncan is whining and snouting me, asking to go out again. Malcolm brings the tennis ball over and over and over again. It gets a bit wearing not having any time to myself. There's always something to do for mom or for the dogs or errands that need run. But Barbara will be home Tuesday, and I can hold out until then. It will be very nice to have her home. We all miss her. The dogs and I will all do our little circle-dance of welcome when she arrives.

Well, I need to get a shower, find some stuff that mom wants, and head over there. Barbara's sister, Frances, has been visiting mom at both the hospital and the nursing home, which lifts mom's spirits immensely. Frances said she'd be over there sometime this afternoon, so I'll visit this morning. I'll also head over there this evening so that mom can try talking to her friend Betty again. I called Betty on the cell-phone last night, but she wasn't at home.

 

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Saturday, 20 July 2002

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Sunday, 21 July 2002

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