Weekend update & more

I agree with Tom. Mom is physically at a point where we cannot properly care for her. I personally cannot do what is required so please remove me from the weekend duty roster. I'll take care of the grocery shopping, medicine runs, house and cars repairs or service, whatever. Or, as Tom has suggested, I'll do my duty weekend along with hired help if the "family" decides to keep her at 14 Ivanhoe. However, I don't think that is the best answer.

Frankly speaking, we are not serving Mom well. She is in pain and discomfort. She is weak and fragile. She is immobile. We do not have the skill or resources to adequately serve her needs at 14 Ivanhoe. Mom needs to be moved into a nursing home where the resources are located to tend to her needs now. We've done the best we could do.

I don't need a geriatric nurse to tell me what Mom's status is. I've lived it for three years. I know what her status is. We all know what her status is. As hard as it is to commit Mom to a nursing home, it's the best we can do for her at this point in time.

I spent Saturday and Sunday with Mom and it was the same as everyone has experienced - constant moaning and calling out for help - not just at night now but during the day. She can't feed herself. She can't clean herself. She can't stand on her own two legs. Her body is contorted and her legs have atrophied. The skin on her legs are spontaneously tearing with greater frequency. I was just there tonight after receiving a call from Maggie that Pam was in a panic due to a new skin tear - larger than the first one but not as deep. Tom and I just took Mom to the eye doctor today because her right eye was extremely distressed, getting worse over the weekend. Again, we have another staph infection. These complications will only compound. The right decision is to move Mom to a nursing home as quickly as possible. Are we prepared? Are we preparing?

I have said from day 1 of this journey that the right thing to do was to keep Mom at home as long as we can but when she reached a point physically or mentally that was beyond our ability to adequately care for her then it would be time to move her to a nursing home. It's the right thing to do for her no matter how much we or her dislike the choice.

Dan