HOWEVER...
God's greatest blessings to us are the people He brings
into our world. While we often overlook those blessings, I acknowledge that I
am richly blessed in friends and family and they have stepped in to fill the
gap. I had a dear friend come on Saturday and stay with mom for half a day
while I ran some personal errands. What a gift for Christmas, Good Friends.
My sister and her family usually come down to visit with
us and have Christmas dinner on Christmas day with us. This year, I told her to
take the day and be with her husband's family and just relax. Mom doesn't know
or care what day it is when they come to visit and those who are still aware of
time should be able to celebrate it with them. So that is our plan, but to
offset that my niece came down and spent most of a week with us and loved on
her Grandmother. A sister from California came up the past weekend with one of
my handsome nephews and spent a long weekend with us, laughing and eating and
sitting beside Mom just chatting about nothing and making her smile. My sister
in law, also up from CA, brought two more of the most handsome nephews in the
world to visit with us for a few hours this week while they were in town on
other business. They too sat sweetly beside their grandmother and repeated their
names and stories for her with loving patience until she was too exhausted to
stay awake. So she snoozed and dreamed happily of grandkids and happy visits.
Great Christmas gifts, every one of them. And Great Blessings to Mom and me.
Today, for Christmas Eve, friends of ours are coming to
spend the afternoon and stay overnight to keep us company. They will share
Christmas Day with us for at least part of the day before heading back over the
river and through the woods to go home for work on Wednesday. So, between my
friend on Saturday and these friends for Christmas that sort of makes our long
dry spell so busy that I fear it will leave us longing for peace and quiet… and
grateful for the Blessings of family and friends.
Mom is still sleeping most of the day and all night. We
are having to cajole and wheedle and demand that she eat most days, but then
other days she eats every bite placed in front of her… over a period of an hour
or so. She isn’t drinking much so our incontinence problem is more one of constipation
these days. It really is a juggling act trying to keep fluids balanced and
comfort in all things. Any advice or guidance in the comments would be much
appreciated!
She is either so exhausted or is weak from so much sleep
and not moving around much, but it is getting harder and harder for her to walk
very far or to think through how to do simple things like turn around and sit
down on the walker so she can be pushed the last few steps. She often gets half
turned and can’t move any further. She will start to sit down and I have to try
and get the walker, which is usually locked for safety when she’s trying to sit
in it, to suddenly shift from one position to another to intercept her bottom
as she sits down where she happens to have stopped turning. So far we have
averted disaster, but I live in fear of her missing the seat and landing in a
pile on the floor or falling across the walker and hurting herself. We are always adapting.
She is also having a harder time remembering how to get
onto the bed. More often now I have to adjust her as best I can and not worry
if she’s a bit too far up or too far down on the bed. As long as neither feet
nor head are hanging off the bed we are calling it a win these days! Her blood sugar has been pretty well balanced
lately, with only a day here or there that is out of acceptable range.
All in all, she has truly enjoyed all the company she has
been having and all our neighbors have brought over tempting goodies for our
Christmas snaking pleasure. I try to give her something sweet each night, A
little celebration of the season and something to pump that overnight blood
sugar.
Merry Christmas to you all and I hope that all your Long
Dry Spells are filled with the Blessings of family and friends!
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