Thankful

Whelp, another week and still house bound…at least somewhat. I get out to go to the grocery store and in the mornings I walk my neighborhood but honestly other than that I am pretty much in. Deborah and I were concerned because momma had developed a cough. You know the kind where you have congestion in the chest and phlegm but with momma we can’t cough it up. So I give her cough medicine and it subsides. However with this era of COVID we needed to be sure. Angel , nurse practitioner, came out three weeks ago and listened to her lungs and stated that they were clear. It’s just something that seniors develop when in the sedentary state and when you reposition them it loosen the phlegm up and they cough. So, that’s what we deal with. Most days she is cough free but then something changes…I’m not convinced of the repositioning, and then she’s coughing again. But considering that she has no bed sores and is eating well…we are in good shape.

There isn’t a day that goes by where I am not thankful to God that she is here with me. I realize more so now what at blessing that is. I can’t imagine having to be isolated from here EVER let alone during this era when people need to feel connected. One could make the argument that since she doesn’t realize where she is it doesn’t matter. However, I see my mother looking around at times. When I’m feeding her she opens her eyes and smiles at me. When I take her from her bedroom to the den in the Hoya lift she opens her eyes and looks at me the entire time until I have her in her chair. Then she sees where she is and then closes her eyes. I guess what I am saying is SHE IS STILL HERE. She may be extremely limited cognitively speaking but she’s till here.

I find it a bit hypocritical that in a previous post I stated how tired I was of caregiving. Really that hasn’t changed but I still wake up everyday happy to see her and that she is with me.

Caregiver tip.

When Angela came for her monthly visit she noticed that momma’s toes, where the first joint is, were discolored. She stated it was coming from the weight of the Bedspread and sheet and advised that we uncover her feet during the day. To let them air out (no socks}) to make sure she doesn’t develop any breaks in the skin. So we did that for two days…then momma started coughing!

So I decided that we could not follow that recommendation at least not in total. What we do is uncover the blanket from the feet (with socks) with just the sheet or just socks. Coughing subsided.