Weekend: Could have been worse.
Sep. 24th, 2007 10:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serindeI got in pretty late Saturday night (after some annoyance with the Newark TSA, which I shall rant about separately); Mom picked me up from the airport, we ate something, and went to bed.
Sunday morning started at 7, with Mom chucking boxes around in the formerly-the-TV-room (she'd been getting ready to throw out a bunch of stuff, pack the rest, and put the house on the market when All This went down, so the place was a hoorah's nest even by her usual standards) to find some suitable receptacles for Grandma's stuff from the assisted living place. We assembled our receptacles, had quick breakfast, then drove to the nursing home for a quick visit with Grandma.
I had much dread, but to my pleased surprise she was her normal self. Modulo that she's advanced probably two or three years' worth of aging since I saw her at Easter, and she's extremely fragile (and her foot is swollen and inflamed; they mumbled "cellulitis", which I have not yet looked up on Wikipedia), but no sign of any derangement. So I was full of cheer and hopefulness, until last night when, as I was catching her up, my sister clued me in that they have Grandma on haloperidol. "Oh." Well, at that, if it lets her be herself--and the worst of it is, she remembers being totally off-the-wall--then hey for the modern pharmacopeia.
We picked up the rental van at 9, or tried to because they were horribly understaffed and world + dog was trying to rent U-Hauls that morning, and after some delay headed out to the assisted living place. (Which is quite nice, and if you have any family needing same on the North Coast, you could do a lot worse than Crystal Waters in Strongsville.)
Furniture I moved with my own fair hands:
* 1 hardwood dining room table
* 1 maple dresser, with mirror
* twin bed
* 3 dining room chairs
* 1 rocking chair
* 1 easy chair
* 2 end tables
* 1 nightstand
Plus assorted boxes of clothes, dishes, small appliances, and impedimentia.
This took two trips, taking it most of it to the house, and then the remainder (clothes, toiletries, and a few personal items) back to the nursing home. With one thing and another, it was getting really tight to the time at which we needed to head back to the airport (the nursing home is waaaaaay the hell out in Outer Whoop-Whoop, aka Broadview Hts.; that is, the other side of town from both the assisted living place and the house). So I only got another very brief visit with Grandma, and most of that was me talking while I put her clothes in the closet and dresser &c. And with Mom nitting and huffing about how We Don't Have Time, Hurry Up. The other patient in the room clearly thought we were a couple of uncaring spazzes.
It was worrisome that, at the end of that 2nd visit and as Mom was getting increasingly impatient and short with both of us, Grandma started getting visibly agitated and making references to non-specific fears & concerns. I felt like it could easily develop into another episode of the previous woe. I dropped what I was doing and crouched down next to her wheelchair, put my arm around her, and reassured her that everything was okay, we're just making sure her stuff is squared before I had to catch my plane, and that there was nothing to worry about. This seemed to answer; she relaxed again, and seemed okay when we made our goodbyes.
Mom still hadn't (as of last night) heard from the nursing home's doctor for his take on what's going on, so we still don't know if anyone has a theory on what has caused this fandango. But it seems that Grandma is stable for the time being. Whew.
Sunday morning started at 7, with Mom chucking boxes around in the formerly-the-TV-room (she'd been getting ready to throw out a bunch of stuff, pack the rest, and put the house on the market when All This went down, so the place was a hoorah's nest even by her usual standards) to find some suitable receptacles for Grandma's stuff from the assisted living place. We assembled our receptacles, had quick breakfast, then drove to the nursing home for a quick visit with Grandma.
I had much dread, but to my pleased surprise she was her normal self. Modulo that she's advanced probably two or three years' worth of aging since I saw her at Easter, and she's extremely fragile (and her foot is swollen and inflamed; they mumbled "cellulitis", which I have not yet looked up on Wikipedia), but no sign of any derangement. So I was full of cheer and hopefulness, until last night when, as I was catching her up, my sister clued me in that they have Grandma on haloperidol. "Oh." Well, at that, if it lets her be herself--and the worst of it is, she remembers being totally off-the-wall--then hey for the modern pharmacopeia.
We picked up the rental van at 9, or tried to because they were horribly understaffed and world + dog was trying to rent U-Hauls that morning, and after some delay headed out to the assisted living place. (Which is quite nice, and if you have any family needing same on the North Coast, you could do a lot worse than Crystal Waters in Strongsville.)
Furniture I moved with my own fair hands:
* 1 hardwood dining room table
* 1 maple dresser, with mirror
* twin bed
* 3 dining room chairs
* 1 rocking chair
* 1 easy chair
* 2 end tables
* 1 nightstand
Plus assorted boxes of clothes, dishes, small appliances, and impedimentia.
This took two trips, taking it most of it to the house, and then the remainder (clothes, toiletries, and a few personal items) back to the nursing home. With one thing and another, it was getting really tight to the time at which we needed to head back to the airport (the nursing home is waaaaaay the hell out in Outer Whoop-Whoop, aka Broadview Hts.; that is, the other side of town from both the assisted living place and the house). So I only got another very brief visit with Grandma, and most of that was me talking while I put her clothes in the closet and dresser &c. And with Mom nitting and huffing about how We Don't Have Time, Hurry Up. The other patient in the room clearly thought we were a couple of uncaring spazzes.
It was worrisome that, at the end of that 2nd visit and as Mom was getting increasingly impatient and short with both of us, Grandma started getting visibly agitated and making references to non-specific fears & concerns. I felt like it could easily develop into another episode of the previous woe. I dropped what I was doing and crouched down next to her wheelchair, put my arm around her, and reassured her that everything was okay, we're just making sure her stuff is squared before I had to catch my plane, and that there was nothing to worry about. This seemed to answer; she relaxed again, and seemed okay when we made our goodbyes.
Mom still hadn't (as of last night) heard from the nursing home's doctor for his take on what's going on, so we still don't know if anyone has a theory on what has caused this fandango. But it seems that Grandma is stable for the time being. Whew.
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Date: 2007-09-24 08:53 pm (UTC)I'm glad to hear that your grandma seems to do well on Haloperidol/ Haldol. Hospitals LOVE to use it as a sedative on elderly patients. Unfortunately, my mother does not do well on it. It makes her crazy, and that is no fun for anyone. sigh.
I'll bet your Mom was happy that you could come on such short notice! It sounds as if she really needed you there.