Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

I’ll See You in Oregon


         For spring break this year, we decided that we would go to Oregon.  I was excited to get away from Utah and to a state where I could breathe.  Jenna was sad not to be in Utah for her birthday, but built up an excitement to go. Roland has needed a vacation and was happy just to get away.  But none of us were as excited about going to Oregon as Beth.

         Beth Goldberg and Roland were in their high school band together.  Roland was interested in dating Beth, but the feeling was not mutual.  She liked Roland as a friend, but didn’t wish for anything more.  (I personally think she may have just had higher standards) After forty years they had reconnected through facebook. 

         Beth travels a lot – or so it seems.  She had remarried and was looking to move from West Virginia to Oregon.  As she and her husband drove from state to state, Beth said that they would be travelling through Salt Lake on a certain day and asked Roland if maybe they could do lunch.  He could meet her new husband, she could meet his new wife (me) and so we had made arrangements to meet for lunch.

         I met Beth for the first time on September 4, 2013 – after mom had been in the hospital for four days. Just as we had finished up, Beth invited us to stay with them in Oregon whenever we happened to make it up there.  I took her more seriously than did Roland. 

         When we planned our summer vacation last year, initially he wanted to take Jenna back to Disneyland, but he also wanted to invite his mom so that she and Jenna could have some bonding time. 

         It was my idea to change the itinerary from California to Oregon as Disneyland didn’t seem to be the ideal place to take his mother as there is more walking and standing involved than her legs are used to.  She’s too proud to be pushed in a wheel chair.  I figured if she and Roland were to watch shows while Jenna and I stood in line, the bonding would not be what he had hoped.  I figured a road trip in Oregon would give his mom the option of leaving the car at her convenience to do side trips and there would be a better environment to bond.

         Turns out that Roland’s mom had already been spoken for and would be spending the majority of her summer in NJ with Roland’s brother, Bob.  I still wanted to go to Oregon, but Jenna and Roland opted for Disneyland.  Thus Oregon was put on the back burner.

         In October, Roland had this horrible cough that seemed to linger for the rest of the year.  Our room always seemed too hot for me.  Though our bed reclines, Roland and I are never happy in the same position.  I ended up on the couch each night until finally I ended up falling asleep in the recliner in the living room and stopped going to bed all together.  I learned that I could actually breathe better than I could in the bedroom.

         When Jenna took swim lessons, the pool area was moist.  That was actually great for my sinuses.  After at least three years of suffering with dry skin and dried out sinuses and sinus infections and allergies, Roland decided that perhaps it was time to move (I had actually suggested that very thing more than eight years ago) and maybe we ought to look into Oregon.  Was this for real?  Breathing has been better for me this winter than any other because there has been more precipitation than usual.  That and the better ventilation between the front window and the sliding door.

         For Spring Break this year, Roland and I decided that we would spend five days in Oregon – looking at living locations mostly.  For the next week or so, my posts will include details about our spring break vacation.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Three Weeks Without Sugar



I remember seeing a story on the news about a class project featuring two rodents with different diets.  I was hoping to find the story online, but have given up my search.

I believe it was an elementary school, but don’t know what grade or from which state.  The class had voted the names of the rodents to be “Nut” and “Honey”.  Nut was given a healthy diet of lettuce, nuts and whatever else might be healthy while Nut was given sugars and starches.  The children were able to see Honey wilting away as she became skinnier and thinner – while Nut remained healthy and had gained weight.

I remember the newscasters making comment that they wondered if that might backfire for anyone having the desire to lose weight – to follow Honey’s diet.  Sadly, it was Nut who died first and not Honey.  I remember the newscaster trying hard to fight the smile as the story unfolded that Nut had choked on a healthy cracker.




I LOVE sugar – well, my mouth does.  I’ve never lost weight as Honey did.  I’ve suffered in other ways though.  The energy (if there’s any to start with) gets sucked out of me.  My blood stream seems to fail.  I could very well be diabetic.  The temporary satisfaction on my lips is not at all satisfying to the rest of my body.  So shortly after school started for Jenna, I decided to give up sugar.  Not completely.  I know it’s in my condiments and bread and some other things.  So it’s still there.  I have just refrained from eating candy bars and cookies and drinking sodas (because if I can’t have sugar in my soda, then there is really no point in drinking a disgusting beverage).  I have said “no” to so many things.  It’s been tough.  But it’s something I need to do cold turkey.

I was really good until last week when Roland and Jenna decided to make some peanut butter cookies.  They’re actually not my favorite and so I did not think I’d have that temptation – which I didn’t – for the cookies themselves.  Unfortunately, my error took place as the ingredients were being mixed into the bowl and Jenna had a theatre box of Junior Mints that she was popping into her mouth like it was popcorn.   


 Subconsciously I joined her.  After about six or so, I thought, “Oh, no!” and then thought, “Where did Jenna even get a theatre sized box of Junior Mints?”  I did stop eating them, but still – once the sugar enters my system, my tongue has an incredible desire for more. That is why I chose to go cold turkey – around the holidays nonetheless.  But you know what?  I can feel the difference when my body isn’t loaded with sugar. 

Haven’t lost my sweet tooth yet, but often do around the holidays.  Here’s hoping it will happen again this year.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Walking in Heaven


I don’t know when mom became an avid walker or how many years she and Pam Sanders had walked together practically every weekday morning.  I know that Corey was still in high school and driving because many times mom and Pam would end their walk at the high school and take the car.

            Once, as they were leaving the parking lot, a security officer from the high school pulled them over to see their ID – wondering why the car was being driven off the high school grounds during school hours.  I guess he figured out that they weren’t high school students. They laughed about the experience of being pulled over and stopped by a diner on their way home. 

            The girl behind the counter started to ring up their order.  I don’t know what they ordered, but evidently it was available at a senior price.  Neither one of them were of age at the time, but took the discount as they had been offended that they had gone from high school teenagers to senior citizens in the matter of only a few minutes.

            They didn’t always do the four miles.  Some days they would only do two.  Mom was in really great shape physically and sorely missed her walks when she had broken her bones one year and her leg was in a cast.

            I didn’t pay much attention to when mom and Pam got back into their routine or when they had stopped walking due to Pam’s ailing health – which seemed to come and go but lingered more as the years passed.

            Pam volunteered to assist with my wedding and worked in the kitchen and fixed plates for any guest who happened to the open house. 

            She and Jenna became fast friends when Jenna was two and three years old.  I remember giving her a picture of Jenna and she was thrilled. 

            As Jenna got older, Pam’s health deteriorated. I did not see much of hear or even hear much for that matter.  My own mom had her good days and bad days after she’d been diagnosed with dementia.  Pam seemed to have disappeared from her mind along with so many others she had known 40 – 50 years.  I stopped by a few times just to see how Pam was doing, but I never did see her again.  Her health had gotten worse.

            Today I heard that she had passed.  I don’t have the details.  I am hoping that I will be able to attend her funeral.  That makes how many that I’ve gone to in less than a year? 

            Corey posted a thought to facebook that perhaps the two of them are taking a walk right now.  What a nice thought.
 

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Going . . . Going . . . I Want It Gone!!!!


The week before Easter we had a ferocious wind.  I blame it for my dry throat.  I went from sounding like Barry White to Darth Vader to null.  On Tuesday I sounded and felt like I had swallowed razor blades.


Jenna went to school on Monday but stayed home the rest of the week.  She is normally quite a horrible patient.  But she actually stayed in bed for two days – except when she was throwing up – which I never shared.  Grateful for that.  On the other hand I have a cough that Jenna doesn’t.

So we sprawled in bed all day Tuesday.  I took her to the doctor on Wednesday – though driving with her when she is ill seems to make it even worse as she gets car sick on top of whatever else she had.  She threw up just before the bus parked at the final destination.


A throat culture was given – just to rule out strep.  The doctor said she had a virus and that we would just have to wait it out.  Oh, joy.  Wish there was a medicine given to prevent strep.

Jenna fell asleep on the bus on the return home.  She slept most of the day.  We both did.
She bounced back after two days – not good enough to go to school, but certainly more energetic than staying in bed.

The doctor’s office contacted me on Friday to say that Jenna had strep and they would call in a prescription.  If Jenna had strep, than I probably did also.  I made an appointment for myself to see a doctor.  I chose a time when Roland could take me so that we wouldn’t have to ride the bus again.


So on the Friday before Easter, Jenna and I both started our ten day treatment with antibiotics.  Just what every child would like in his/her Easter basket, right?  Amoxillan, Penicillin, cough drops, etc.  Jenna’s prescription came in liquid form.  I, on the other hand, had cough capsules in addition to the horse pill infection fighter.



When Roland’s family arrived in town, we were still on medication.  They had come for Biff and Jeanie’s wedding. 

It was cold on the temple grounds though it didn’t start out that way.  Roland’s family, used to the Arizona weather, was freezing.  I had extra jackets.  I passed them out to some family members and stood bare armed when I got cold myself.


Bill took lots of pictures.  It was the first wedding photo with family members represented from the boys’ mom’s side of the family and their dad’s side of the family as well as my own.  The first wedding in which all three boys were in attendance.

Gradually all of the family members left except for Biff and Jeanie and Bill.  Bill led the other two around temple square and posed them and took many many pictures.  He led them around for at least two hours.


Twelve of us went to an Italian restraint downtown Salt Lake.  

There was a ceremony the following day – Saturday.  It rained.  It rained and rained and never let up.  I am certain that the rain kept several away.  I think the ceremony would have been better attended in nicer weather.  Still it was nice.  Different.  At least from my point of view.  Just isn’t what I am used to.


In the past, Jenna has always delighted in the role of “flower girl” hoping to throw flower pedals as portrayed in television and movie weddings. It isn’t typical of the “Mormon-theme” however.  But on Saturday she did get to do just that.

Jeanie and her mom bought lavender dresses for her two nieces and Jenna and Ester.  Anna wore blue.  Kayla had asked if we would watch her.  As usual, Jenna took Anna under her wing.  And Jeanie’s mom made her an honorary flower girl.


Rochelle walked beside two-year-old Ester who had absolutely no clue.  When Rochelle pulled out the flowers to toss as she moved, Ester’s first instinct was to pick them up and return them to the basket.

Ten-year-old Jenna walked with four-year-old Anna who was beaming from ear to ear – probably not fully understanding it herself, but having fun with it.  They both did.


Their bishop introduced the ring ceremony and presented ring trivia and customs.  It was interesting. 

There was a luncheon that followed.  Anna danced with Bill when he wasn’t taking pictures. 

The next day I went to Church and attempted to teach two lessons though I really didn’t have much voice.


The first was Relief Society.  I had agreed to step in for Angie as she was not feeling well.  I imagined that she might have been feeling as I had the week before Easter.

Class went really well.  Lots of participation.  I didn’t really feel I had personally taught anything. 

And then I taught the youth class for the last time.  I’ve been called to be the enrichment leader.  I can’t even imagine.

Randy stops by the house once a week – mostly to fill his belly with cereal.  Sometimes he mows the lawn.  Mostly he complains about school and math.  I understand his frustration with math.  I have never learned the language.  



The average person who takes required math course will need to understand and do math terms for just that class.  The average person will never ever need to know that stuff in real life.  The average person will never use any of that again.  So why learn it?  Randy and I both feel that it’s pointless. 


Jenna LOVES math.  I hope that she always loves math.  I don’t mind her learning the math language.  But please, don’t confuse my brain by trying to explain it to me.  You might as well be speaking Japanese or Hungarian from what I’m going to get out of it.

April was an odd month.  Mostly cold.  Colder than November was. 

My throat has stopped hurting.  But I am out of pills.  And I still have my cough.  I want it gone.  And I don’t want the sinus pains to return.  We have to move to a wetter climate with no wind.  That’s my solution.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Valentine’s Didn’t Happen

Earlier this week, Jenna came home
all excited and
folded an open box into
a closed one,
added a face and
the hearts that she and
her friend had cut out of
colored paper. 

She said there was a contest and
she came up with
the idea of turning her box into
the school mascot.

On Wednesday she was crying when
I picked her up – disappointed
that one class did not
collect all the needed points and
thus they wouldn’t be having
the Valentine’s party she had so
looked forward to. 



On Thursday I said she should take
 her box and prepared Valentines anyway –
just in case.
She threw up in class and so
was taken to the office and
put in the sick room
to wait until somebody arrived.

My phone was in my pocket.
  Unfortunately it had been turned off. 
Roland was on his cell phone
talking to someone. 
Randy was in class. 
Carrie was at work. 
Evidently the staff had gone through
every single number I had provided for
emergency contact – some outdated
I guess. 
I felt bad that they had gone
to all that trouble. 
They said they had tried everyone
 on the list.

Jenna asked,
“Who is Dora?”

“Oh,”
that’s when I realized
the list was outdated. 
“She taught you in primary
a couple of times when
we attended our old ward. 
You used to call her
Dora, the Explorer”

“Oh, yea. 
I sort of remember her. 
Why isn’t Corey on the list?”

“Corey is in Las Vegas. 
I had him and grandma on
the list when you
were in first grade.” 
I had eliminated contacting grandma
for the year that I started
my blog.
 

Jenna had a fever. 
She stayed in bed all day –
except for once in a while after
she would drink something,
she would make her way into
the bathroom to throw up. 
But we brought her fever down in time and
after long her stomach wasn’t hurting anymore either. 
But she still felt dizzy whenever she stood.

I had given her the cards that
arrived in the mail. 
Two of them:
a Valentine from her
activity days leader and
one from our former next door neighbor whom she called
 “grandma”
plus there had been a box of
chocolates that dad brought home.

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. 
She didn’t deliver because
she still felt dizzy when she moved.
  We stayed home.
We both took it easy.

Roland used to do Valentines for
the women in my family.
 A box of chocolates, flowers,
 one year we made red doughnuts. 
Another year he purchased heart
 shaped pizzas. 
I think that was the
last year.

This year he purchased candy bars
for all the RS and primary presidency. 
He printed up the note

“All Classy Ladies deserve
chocolate on Valentines Day 
Even if they are a little nuts” 

They have not been delivered, however. 
Perhaps he is just planning on
handing them out at Church tomorrow.

There was a knock at the door
sometime after Jenna had gone to bed. 
Whoever it was had walked away
after leaving a sack of
candy for Jenna. 
This morning I learned that
it was/is from Trume. 

So we did receive Valentines. 
And Jenna created three more.
 They won’t be received until
next week. 
Valentine’s Day is over. 
Jenna feels better. 
Outside is still grey

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Over the Counter



Ever watch “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”? Toula’s large extended family reminds me so much of Roland’s side of the family - with a few minor differences.  They’re Hispanic, not Greek.  They are not devout to any particular religion. And instead of a fascintion with Windex, Roland’s mother swears by Vicks Vapor Rub.

 




Roland well remembers the taste of Vicks.  His mother would smother the inside of each of her children’s mouth.  There is a warning on today’s label NOT to do that.  I don’t know if it was there in Roland’s youth.

 

I do admit that I have also taken it internally – which I do not recommend.  But it really is the best throat medicine I’ve ever had.  I felt a tinge of excitement the first time I saw Vicks Vapor Syrup.  It is rare to see more than two bottles on the shelf – if at all.  It seems like there are only certain stores that carry it.

 

The taste is truly NASTY.  But it does work.  Well, it does for me.  Jenna says it doesn’t work on her.  There are a lot of medications that doesn’t seem to work on her and vice-versa. 



Over the counter drug Advil would work on Jenna.  I might as well take candy, as Advil does absolutely nothing for me.



The cough syrup that works best is Buckley’s.  Also nasty.  Their motto is: "It Tastes Awful. And It Works.".  Perhaps Canadians can find product in most of their stores.  Unfortunately it is not as easy to find among this American.  Why do stores always discontinue carrying products that work?





Saturday, September 28, 2013

Two Weeks


 
Two weeks after I started my blog I became part of a search party who went out looking for mom who had dementia and had wandered from home.  She could not be left alone.  Each of us worked out a schedule so that someone would always be with her.

Two weeks after this year started mom was released from the hospital and spent her last night at the house she’d lived in for over fifty years. It had been on a Sunday when Ellen found my mom passed out and called for Nate to assist.  Patrick ended up taking her to the hospital.  He and Nate were both dressed for church but stayed at the hospital all day. They did not go to Church that day. Patrick had chosen to stay with mom. On Monday mom’s four children worked together to fill out the paperwork to move mom into assisted living. On Wednesday Kayla took mom to her new home at the assisted living facility – the last place she would live. And Corey came from Las Vegas to assist and say good-bye to the house. 

Two weeks ago we lay mom to rest - buried beside my dad.  She’d been rushed to the hospital two weeks prior to that.  It was on a Sunday when she was found passed out on the floor. She'd been rushed to the hospital. Patrick met her at there.   He was dressed for church but stayed at the hospital all day.  He did not go to Church that day.  He had chosen to stay with mom. He took the next two weeks off.  And Corey drove from Las Vegas to say good-bye.  We all spent time with her for 7-10 days.  And then she finally let go.

Two weeks ago Corey and Kayla and I met Fern and Michelle at the Mortuary.  We watched Corey and the Mortician dress my mom.  Michelle applied some lipstick – that’s all that was needed.  Mom looked like she always does when she falls asleep. She still has her purse.

Two weeks ago we talked with family and friends who had come to pay their last respects.  Sunny offered a beautiful prayer before we all went into the chapel. I tied mom’s bow and veiled her face – my final act of service for her.  The lid was closed.  I think Brian cried the hardest. His sobs just seemed louder than the rest - maybe because he's a giant.



 Two weeks ago today we paid our last respects and shared our stories and beautiful thoughts for such a marvelous woman.  Daddy’s birthday was the day after the farewell services.  It was on a Sunday. Corey had planned to spend this week with mom. Instead she's spending it with dad.  We miss you mom! (and dad)

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Still Waiting


Kayla and Corey spent Thursday night at the hospital with mom.  And on Friday morning all of her children surrounded her and enjoyed conversation – especially when mom would laugh at just the right moment as though she was laughing at our jokes, but sometimes it just felt like she was really listening to someone outside of our presence.

Corey asked mom if she had a favorite hymn.  She responded that it was a secret. She must have been conversing with someone on the other side.  Perhaps a suggestion had been made: “They are planning your funeral.  Can you believe it?  We should just make your pulse count go higher.  You outlive the two weeks you’ve been given.  We’ll show them”

Mom was laughing. It would make for a great final memory.  Her pulse went up. She spends most of the day just sleeping.  We can get her to drink sometimes but she won’t eat anything.  Hospice designed for making loved ones as comfortable as possible.  She was not comfortable wearing the oxygen tube and so we had it removed. She looks quite peaceful when she’s sleeping. 

Some of our conversation went a bit like this (though mine and Corey’s words are actual, the others are imagined)

Me:       So how long are you staying

Corey:    I can stay indefinitely

Angel:    Did you hear that?

Mom:     Coery is such a good son.

Angel:     He said “indefinitely” Do you want to test him?

Mom (smiling): That would be kind funny.

Her pulse went up and they have moved her back to Alpine Ridge where she will spend her final days. It almost felt like a cruel joke - though a joke she would have never gone along with, as she has never been one to toy with people’s emotions.  It’s highly probably that Joh may have to return to Vegas before mom passes on.

It would not be a very nice thing if Corey stayed for thirty days or so and return to Las Vegas and then return for the funeral. Mom wanted to return to Alpine Ridge before she returns to dad.  I will take Jenna to Alpine Ridge this morning.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Waiting



Before Sunday
Mom was laughing,
she was walking
and dressing herself.
She was singing
on Thursday as Harold
accompanied on guitar.

Sometime between four and six
on Sunday morning
she got out of her chair. 
We don’t know why. 
She may have been headed
toward the bathroom. 
Or perhaps she could feel the
pain of a mild heart attack.

She was checked on at four. 
She was sleeping peacefully
in her chair.  But when
she was checked in on at six,
she was found on the floor. 
Her clothes were wet
with urine and perspiration.

She was loaded into
an ambulance and rushed
to the hospital.  Her legs
were badly swollen. 
She was diagnosed with
rhabdomyolysis  . 
The infection spread into
her legs and
kidneys and heart
probably.

She’d been hooked up
to machines and
needles and
was given cat scans,
an MRI,
a pick line and
an emergency surgery
on her legs. 

Her children felt so
helpless as I imagine
the doctors did too. 
Everybody did his or her job
best to his or her ability. 
We learned that her
kidneys had failed and that
she would need dialysis
and at least one of her legs
would have to be amputated.
On Wednesday two children stayed
the night at the hospital
so that she wouldn’t be alone.

On Thursday
we spent the day waiting –
waiting for the doctors to come,
waiting for Corey to arrive,
waiting to be moved
to a bigger room.

Mom had lots of visitors. 
A Lot. There was
the Relief Society Presidency,
Ross and Fern,
Peggy and George,
the bishop
and Harold.
Hunched over Harold.  
Sharply dressed –
wanting to spend time
with his lady friend.
Sunny and Fern called him
an angel.  And he is. 

Jenna made a card for Harold
who has been beside himself
since he learned
that the ambulance
had taken mom away.
She might never return
to the assisted living
facility.  She may die
at the hospital.

The doctor came and
explained about hospice. 
Mom was moved
to a bigger room. 
Corey arrived
and is spending the night
with her
at the hospital.
Now we are waiting
for dad to escort mom home. 
It’s time already. 
It is somewhat freaky
how quickly it happened. 
A week ago she was active. 
Now she is in bed. 
And we’re still waiting. 


                                                                                     kfralc