how did you bring in 2012?

ce..le..brate good times! 
come on!
bah dah dah dah 
dah! dah! dah! dah!

11 pm-ish. Saturday, December 31st.
I'm relaxed on a couch,
playing angry birds on my tablet.
The room is peaceful,
only the Christmas lights gleem.
Just me and.....half a dozen nurses,
aides, and a care home full of 
sleeping residents.
okay..not all of them were sleeping..
especially one in particular.
Momma.
And because she was awake,
so were Daddy and I. 


Late in the afternoon she had a BAD spell.
Heart rate elevated, rapid breathing,
low blood pressure, anxious....
All that scarey stuff.

Several phone calls and this daughters 
heart could no longer stay at home.
Brown-eyed-handsome man drove me over.

Mom had calmed down, 
all systems were as normal as possible,
kind of.
Daddy wanted to stay until midnight, 
then maybe go home.
okay, we stayed.
but after Momma said
" I'm sorry guys, but this may take all night."
Daddy assured her we weren't going anywhere.
He stayed by her beside in the recliner,
dozing very rarely.
I was up and down the halls,
checking on the folks, 
laying on a sofa, in the chapel,
or chatting with the night crew.
They are AMAZING.
:-)


By 5:30-6 am. I knew she was gonna be fine.
Or as fine as she can be.
But Daddy wouldn't leave until 
sister-bird arrived for the second shift.

Even though physically Mom has settled down,
there is still confusion.
It's not all the time and you need to
hang out with her for 30-60 minutes to become aware.
I shared several stories with the different care givers
so they would know. 


I'll tell you one...maybe two.
Because she had been so full of anxiety and 
had all those scarey signs... hospice suggested
using the anti-anxiety cream.
they had to increase the dosage.
she was also given a pain pill,
and her sleeping pill.
eventually all those became effective but
she was still awake.
sigh.
then her nose was stopped up.
she dug around in there, 
gross i know, oh well.
at least it helped.
and then I offered her mentholatum.
"YES"
that seemed to do the trick.
for an hour.
when the nurse would give the anti-anxiety
cream, mom would dose her nose.
Finally around 4 a.m. she settled down 
and slept. 
I did too.
At 6:30 we are all awake.
Mom comes to a conclusion saying,
" we need to remember.
all that stuff they did last night...
and all i really needed was mentholatum.
that is what helped me breath."

WHAT!!!
mentholatum!
I'm sure it's what regulated her b/p,
heart rate, etc.
or not.
but in mom's mind it did. 

I felt it my duty to not negate
the hard working staff and other previously 
mentioned measures, so mentioned 
them to her.


Okay...maybe.


I just want you to know she still 
is fond of her mentholatum.
and that's fine.

My favorite story is one she told 
sister bird.
" I'm using a nasal spray. 
it's going up into my brain and killing 
the tumors."


sure..why not. 


my  brown-eyed-handsome man
became mom's favorite son-in-love today.
he re-arranged her room and got the tv set up.
As it was programming she got excited.
"oh..this is so good."
it was just cute.
he showed her the button for menu.
you know the scrolling place that shows 
the times, stations and shows.
momma said,
"it's fun just watching this!"
she was serious.
it was cute, fun, 
and so sweet to see her appreciation.
we were glad to give her joy.


however, it's all because her 
other favorite son-in-love 
bought her the tv. 


she's blessed to have two favorites!
and we are blessed to have more days.
even the hard ones.