Saturday, November 15, 2008

concern about the cold

Well, it's cold out there which concerns me. Keeping Mom in the house is absolutely impossible, although Dad tries. He went so far as to physically take her arm and pull her away from the door, shutting the door in her face and saying, "@#@!%$, you're not going out that !#!%$% door again!" (It's really something, seeing him be so assertive for the first time in his life---frustration makes you that way, evidently.) Yeah, well....two minutes later she had looped 'round the house, circumventing his grasp and escaped through another route. I'm thinking it's best just to keep her bundled up, which she does herself because she dresses in multiple layers. Of course, I'm concerned about her safety and comfort with the colder weather setting in and the possibility of ice on the sidewalk. Although I am certainly glad she's physically healthy, it does create a little bit of a challenge. Dad's been going nuts, particularly at nighttime when her urge to wander greatly increases. We were watching her last week and she went in and out the door 7 times in 15 minutes. Of course, that lets a blast of cold air in the house, which is Dad's concern. It really wasn't cold in the house, because they had electric heaters installed in the walls of the outer rooms a couple years ago, but Dad, always the penny-pincher, sees money going out the door every time she opens it. It makes him crazy.

I was down there today as usual, and Mom was pretty out of it. She didn't speak at all and had very little response to anything. At supper time I gave her a knife and she knew what to do with it and cut up her roast beef with no problem. She ate well and didn't have any trouble swallowing. Problem was that after she was finished cutting, she forgot which utensil she had in her hand and started feeding herself with the knife (which had recently been sharpened) rather than the fork. I said, "Whoa, there...let's find that fork." We don't let her eat by herself, especially meat or things we think might be difficult to chew. And we are also careful to blow on her food that is too hot. So far, so good.

I did get one response from her today---a laugh. I noticed her cell phone was missing from its designated area. I said, "Mom, do you have the cell phone?" She started to laugh and her eyes twinkled. I said, "You do have it, now hand it over." Nothing doing. Her eyes continued to twinkle in a "make me" kind of way. I had to give her a pat down to find it in her sweatshirt. When I pulled it out of her pocket with a victorious, "A-ha!" she laughed again. That was SO nice to hear!

On a little bit happier topic, Dad would like to have a border collie puppy. You know he doesn't ever ask for things, but several times lately he has said he would like to have a new border collie to replace Sadie as the work dog. Sadie is getting too old to run cattle. She's gotten to when Dad tells her to round them up, she gives him the "Do I really have to?" look. Dad is getting too old to walk around herding, himself. So, I'm asking anybody out there to please check their local papers and let me know if you find some border collies for sale. When a man gets Dad's age and says he wants a puppy, by dang I think he should have it!

Thanks for reading. It's not always very happy posting, but your reading means you love and are concerned for Mom too, so we appreciate that. Every family has their ups and downs and we're doing ok. She's safe, and comfortable, and well-supervised and we're so glad she's still with us! She still gives warm, snuggly hugs and kisses. And sometimes she has a million dollar smile!

1 comment:

mollypollyvelela said...

I like that new puppy thought!