weighty humor....

This was just cool...

This is the sign outside of my grandparents MD's private office. I just thought it was really cool.

Combining of Blogs

For those of you following my other blog about the grandparents, I have combine that with this one. I found that it is easier. My blogs will continue to post to Multiply as well.

Simplify where you can. :)

Not a routine MD appt.

Today was supposed to be a simple run of the mill doctor appointment. Instead it turned into a fiasco. I took G'ma for a md appointment to have her coumadin level checked in Bethany. (We have an appt with a new MD next week closer to home) For those who don't know, coumadin is a bloodthinner. Levels are supposed to be 3 to 5, hers was 14.9. That is scarey high. So they imediately gave her vitamin K, which reverses the effects of the coumadin, but it wasn't enough. Her MD confered with his partner and decided to sent her to the hospital for fresh, frzen plasma. So what should have been a 1/2 hour appointment has now turned into several hours.  

To back track abit... Thinking this was going to be a routine visit, Sean, Ian and Rosie came with me. It is a 90 mile drive to Bethany. So while I am sitting next to G'ma at the hospital, trying to keep her from pulling out the IV, Sean is trying to entertain the two rugrats. He took them for dinner at Country Kitchen and then to Walmart for toy shopping. Meanwhile, G'pa is home. Mom went over and got him dinner and Tim came home to stay with him. G'pa has a tendency to freak out if we are gone to long (he also has no concept of time). 

While at the hospital, the nursing staff took pictures of G'ma's bruised knees and hand (see blog about her tumbling down the stairs). I know they have to do it for documentation but it sure made me feel like a heel. I know I couldn't have caught her but, I feel like I somehow should have prevented it. 

 I wonder if I can handle having G'ma and G'pa at home. I thought I could. But my experience has been with multiple patients as a nurse, with several aides to help me. It is different being one on two. It is like have a two year old who is 5'2" and too smart for their own good, combined with a forgetful, frail, fall prone, stubborn 80-something old. 

I feel like taking care of them is the only thing I can do to lessen the burden on my mom. She has enough on her plate with dad's situation. But I also feel like I am making it worse because she is the one I call first when something like today happens. 

I hope things will settle into something of a routine soon.

Nurse Humor

And life gets interesting...

We have managed to get thru 5 days without incident. Then today comes along...

The morning started out normal. G'ma got up about 9am, I convinced her into the shower (that was a feat unto itself), she had breakfast and decided to lay down for a nap.   For those who don't know the layout of the house, there is a door in the kitchen that leads to the finished basement. The kids rooms and the rec room are downstairs so they are up and down all the time. I was working in the kitchen and had the basement door closed (we have been keeping it closed to discourage G'ma from the stairs). I turned around just in time to see G'ma open the door and tumble down the stairs. Luckily, she summersaulted the whole way and did not get hurt badly. She has a small cut on her palm and bruised knees. I, on the other hand, think my heart skipped several beats in that moment.  I feel horrible that it happened.  I thought we had taken the correct precautions to keep her from falling but I was obviously wrong. Needless to say, I will be purchasing and installing a gate to keep her from doing it again. I have found a safety gate that is secured / screwed to the wall and can be positioned in the doorway high enough to keep her from going over the top.  What's next?

Day 3 with G'ma

It has been interesting. G'ma has a routine of sorts going. Unfortunately, G'pa is totally discombobulated. He wants her in his room but doesn't understand when she doesn't want to get up in the morning at 7am when he does. He also is having trouble with letting her do things. He wants her to sit in the recliner all day. I keep telling him it is fine for her to walk around and there isn't anything she can get in trouble with. Mainly she just putters and tries to "clean-up".  It is especially funny to watch her try to "clean up" the computer as Sean is working on it.

Frustration followed by excitement

I am sooo frustrated!!! and also excited.

Let me explain, I am on this weight loss quest. I have been really good...going to the gym daily, eating healthy and not snacking, cut down to two sodas a day (working on cutting it out completely), etc. As part of this I having been weighing once a week. I dropped 5 lbs right off the bat. That was two weeks ago. The scale has not moved since, not down and not up. I was so frustrated with it that I made Ian stand on the scale just so I could make sure it was working correctly.....it was. 

Now on the flip side I was able to put on a pair of jeans this morning that 3 weeks ago I couldn't get into. These were the jeans that you have to lay down on the bed and use a pair of pliers to pull up the zipper. This morning, I put them on and not only could I get into them fairly easily, I could zip them.....while standing up!!!!  I was excited, because although the scale hasnt moved, I now have proof that what I am doing is working.

Grandma moves in...

Grandma moved from Crestview today. She is doing pretty well. The trip home to Smithville was fun. Tim drove so I could pay attention to her. She apparently enjoys Tim's choice in music. She was clapping along and singing.  Once home she was greeted by Grandpa Jim. She recognized him and sat holding his hand for awhile. He seems happy she is here. There was a bit of a issue because he expected her to stay sitting still and she wanted to walk around. He finally realized she was not going to sit for more than a few minutes and that I was there and watching out for her. She walked around investigating closets and rooms. She settled down and sat at the dining room table with us for dinner. She doesn't understand silverware anymore so she has to be fed. She ate really well, though. After dinner she was content to sit in the living room with Grandpa for a bit.  I helped her get ready for bed. We have her room at set-up but at Grandpa's request I helped her to bed in his room. I am holding my breath everytime I think I hear something from that room.  I told Grandpa that if she woke up to call for me or Sean, but I doubt he will. He is stubborn. 

It is proving interesting for Sean. He has not dealt with someone with advanced Alzheimer's before now. He is kind of sitting back to see how I do things then following my lead.  I find myself going into nurse mode. I keep waiting for a little icon of a nurse's cap to appear above my head.  

Karma points

I was at Sam's Club with Mom and Nic earlier today. I went out to bring the van up to the door ahead of Mom and Nic.  As I was walking out to the van I notice a older woman, about 85ish, struggling to get her groceries out of the cart and into her car.  She had a cane in her cart and was having to hold onto the edge of it to keep her balance, so she only had one hand to use to get things out. I saw that she had one of those roasted chickens and a big box of hot chocolate. Both of these items require two hands to pick up.   I went over and offered to help her. I picked up the chicken and asked her where she wanted it and put it in the car with her hot chocolate. Then I handed her cane to her and took the cart back to the stall. As I turned around, I saw her looking at me with the "What just happened?" look.  I had to walk back by her to get to the van. As I passed her, she said thank you again and I said, "I hope you have a good day". Her response was "I think I will now." It made me feel good to think that just by giving her two minutes of my time I was able to improve her day.

Getting things ready for Grandma

I spent this morning with Mom shopping for items we need before I move Grandma down. We got her a bed and bedding along with a shower chair and toilet riser. I am waiting for the bolts for the daybed we got from Seth and Staci; the plan is to get them tomorrow. Once that is put together we can start the arrangements to bring her down from Bethany. The plan is too try to bring her down the first week of February.

Strength training setup

I met with my trainer at the YMCA today and we set up a weight program. Last week I was able to meet my goal of going 5 days. I took yesterday, Sunday, off. My goal this week os to go everyday but Sunday and do the weight circut at least three of those days. I am not counting today because we just set it up. I did do a full cardio workout though. I rode the bike. Now the cool part is the bike is not just one of those upright pedal til you think your legs will fall off things. It has this screen that allows you to pick a course to ride and it appears on the screen as if you are really riding it. You can move the handle bars to avoid other riders and it increases you're intensity to mimic the grades of the course. You also set the gears just like a regular bike. It also allows you to plug in head phones and choose from different music stations.  For those of you who are used to going to the gym this is probably not news but I still think it is cool and I'll take anything that keeps me motivated to keep going.

Tried a new recipe for dinner tonight

I tried a new recipe tonight. 

Tilapia with Dill cream sauce

Everyone really enjoyed it. I served it with steamed brussel sprouts ( the sauce is really good on them), corn and rice.

It is super easy to make!!!

I posted the recipe in the recipe section of my multiply site.

http://krisybear.multiply.com/recipes

Fun at the pool / am I insane moment...

So I offered to take Lisa's kids yesterday while Chad and Sean went out for guy time.  I am not sure what possessed me. They had a half day of school and Lisa had to work this weekend.  I figured she could use the sleep. All the kids came over and we went to the pool. Meagan and her kids came with us. 

For those of you keeping count it was...

Me, Meagan, Nic, Ian, Rosie, Heather, Cassidy, Luke, Caitlyn, Devon, and Jade. That is 3 "adults" and 8 kids. 

Amazingly it went well. Except for the occassional reprimand for running, nobody got in trouble or hurt. We had the expected fit about leaving but managed to get everybody dressed and out the door with everything.  Totino's was kind enough to put their pizzas on sale so that was dinner. 8 pizzas and an entire pitcher of koolaid later, everyone was fed.  Meg took Cassidy and Jade to her house, Chad dropped off Sean and took Caitlyn home.  Everybody else stayed here. I pulled a mom and went to bed at about 10:30 with Rosie. Tim and Nic hung out with the little guys and kept them from burning down the house. 

Needless to say, I did not lose my mind, the kids seemed to have fun, and the house is still standing.

I just might do it again. Maybe :)

Settling back in...

Things have calmed down from the holidays. Grandpa saw doctor Hall last week and was given a clean bill of health. We also went to see grandma. She was much more active and awake than I had seen her before. She was able to talk alittle. It is still nonsensical most of the time but she had a few brief moments of some clarity. She didn't know me but recognized the name Kristin. Grandpa came away feeling good about the visit. 

I talked to the nurses and social service worker about moving grandma. We are shooting for the end of the month. Mom and I are going shopping on Monday for a bed and toilet riser, etc.  I have resigned myself to the fact that I will not be able to leave the house easily after we move her in. I know the plan was fro me to have two days off a week but I do not see that happening. Mom is now in classes for her masters, Lisa has a crazy schedule and Jenny, Meg and Sam do not handle nursing things well.  Sean is looking at a job that would be 11a to 7p. This would allow me to still go to the gym/Y daily. That will be my escape so to speak. Otherwise I will have to plan time out and get a sitter. 

I am not sure how Sean will handle grandma being here. it is hard on him to have grandpa here. He worries about him constantly. He needs to find a joba nd get out of the house soon.

Another mommy brag moment....

Nic was invited to play with the choir at their last preformace. I am extremely impressed with him. He was given the music on Monday and they preformed on Thursday evening. It was fantastic!  I am still trying to figure out how to upload the video. I will let you know if I ever figure it out!

I did manage to upload it to my multiply account.

YMCA and other things

I officially joined the Y and have been actually going.  I have been pretty good about sticking to the low-fat diet. It has paid off. I have lost 5 lbs. Now I know, rationally, that it is mostly water weight but it still feels good to see that scale needle move to the left.  I also met with the trainer at the Y today. Her name is Sam. She is great. I scared her to death though when we did the 3 minute step assessment. It is this test to see how hard your heart is working when you exercise. It is tough. You have to step you onto a workout step with both feet then step off with both feet for 3 minutes. They take your heart rate before and after.  I made it to 2 1/2 minutes then had to stop. I was breathing hard etc. She had taken my resting heart rate at 69 bpm, then my heart rate when I stopped...it was 179 bpm. This is not good. I think, she thought I was going to have a heart attack right there on the spot. It was kind of funny. After I had caught my breathe we went on to the strength test. This is where you see what your max weight is for the bench press and leg press. I did 160 lbs on the bench and 300 lbs ont he leg press. I was impressed. For the moment we agreed on a cardio plan. I am meeting with her again next week to get setup on the weight machines and to discuss goals and reasons for doing this.  I have what I think is a realistic goal in mind, get under 200lbs by the end of the year. My ultimate goal is 150 lbs. We'll see if she agrees with me. My reasons are pretty straight forward:

1. I need to get healthy.

2. I want my kids to see mom being healthy, so they will learn healthy habits too.

3. I want to look good. 

4. I want feel good about my body again.

So to sum it up. I am working out and have lost 5 lbs. 

Current weight 240lbs.

Top 10....An update for those who aren't in the know...

1. We are now in Smithville, MO.

2. My dad has pancreatic cancer.

3. My aunt-in-law (she is basically my MIL) has pancreatic cancer.

4. We live with and care for my grandfather who is in frail health and grandmother who has alzheimer's.

5. My oldest is 18...enough said.

6. My 16 year old moved in with his grandparents to continue attending Kearney High (long story involving step-mother and her issues).

7. My six year old has discovered how to be sassy.

8. My two year old is 2. WHY? WHY? WHY? HOW? WHAT? you get the idea.

9. We now have a dog named Sumner.

10. I haven't lost my mind.............yet.

Mommy brag moment...

This is my mommy brag moment. 

I have a really good looking kid. This picture was taken last summer in Washington. 

Tim and Selena.

2007

And so it begins....

We are almost a week into the new year. I have decided to start a health plan.  I am going to revisit the Alli diet and join the YMCA. My goal is to get healthy this year. All of the family health crisis have put things into a unique perspective for me and I realized I have let myself slip dramatically. I am hoping if I blog my progress and slip ups it will keep me honest and on track. So wish me luck and here goes.

 

Just for the record,  picture was taken on 12/29/2008. I weigh 245lbs.

Sunset

Occassionally, we are privledged to a few moments of something spectatular.
This photo does not do justice to the sunset we witnessed.
Taken January 1, 2009