I told you that I was going to update you for each doctor this time, but we have been waiting on lab results. Dr. Weaver sent Mom to the lab for some test. It took two weeks to get into the lab and a week for the results to come back. Everything is fine. There was no changes.

She saw Dr. Gwinn on Monday (April 7). Her eye pressures were down. This is what we been waiting for. Remember the two small holes that he put in each eye to relief pressure. They are working. Her pressures are down to 16. Pressures are a problem once they go above 20. As long as she uses her eye drops everyday, she should not have any problems for awhile.

She hurt her back again. She is wearing her back brace and taking an over-the-counter pain reliever. She will be fine in a day or two. This is going to happen every now and then. Dr. Monroe will not operate on her back because of her age and medical conditions. He is afraid that he will kill her, because of the length of time she would have to be under.

Let me tell you what Mom done. We were in the grocery store last Wednesday. I asked one of the female workers why she was wearing a freeze coat and gloves. She said that she was sick and she was freezing to death. Mom has never spoken to this woman, ever. The next thing I know Mom is in her facing talking to her. I tried to get Mom away from her, but Mom was going to have none of that. The Store Manager seen that I was trying to get Mom away from her and she went got the woman by the arm and said come with me. Mom cut the woman off and would not let her go with her boss. It took both of us to get Mom away from the woman. The Store Manage (which is a female) come back to me and want to know what was going on. I told I did not know, but Mom did not need to be around the sick woman. Mom worked her way back to the woman twice before I could get Mom out of the store. By Thursday afternoon Mom and I both were sick. Mom did not go to Church Sunday. She is barking like a dog, but she told me this morning that is has never been sick a day in her life, that everyone around her is sickly, but she never gets sick and the reason she did not go to Church was so she could stay home and take care of me. She got up Sunday morning eat some breakfast and went back to bed.

This is not the first time she has done something like this.

Oh, Update. Debra bought a house over in Cowpens. She will have to come by the house to go to Church. This is a good thing, because Mom has not been wanting to go to Church and her excuse has been that it is out of Debra’s way and that she does not want to bother Debra. Debra is moving in the last of March, so there goes that excuse.

I will tell you this Mom is beginning to lose some of her mental capabilities. I don’t turn my back on her when we are out, because she just may walk away. She has her good days and her bad days. She has never tried to walk away from the house (guess I better put yet in here). The reason is that I thing it is her comfort zone. To show you how bad this can be at times listen to this. Back last fall Mom when off on a young new cashier at the grocery store. Mom was yelling at the top of her voice that the young lady was stealing from her (Mom still likes to pay for her groceries at Aldi’s and she pays cash. Because Aldi’s does not take checks or credit cards. They take cash and debt cards only.). Now let me get back to this story. I get Mom away from this young new cashier and start trying to explain to her that the young lady was not stealing from her. Then she goes off on me and starts telling me that I am letting everybody take her money. I had to put Mom’s hands on the grocery cart handle and push her out of the store. I got Mom in the car and locked her in. When she gets like this she can not unlock the doors, so I can lock her in the car. I was put the groceries in the bags when the Store Manager (the female store manager) came out to check on Mom. We are in this store most every week, so she sees how Mom is. She knows more about how Mom is that my Sisters.

The girls don’t want to admit how bad off Mom is, especially Debra. Debra told me that we were not going to have to worry about Mom dying for at least ten years and that Mom would out live her. I told her that she better hurry up and dye, because Mom may not may it to her Birthday. These girls are not living in Mom’s world, nor do they seem to want to see what is happening.  Now I don’t think Mom will dye any time soon, but I don’t know that. 

We’ve been through another round of Doctor’s visits. Dr. Weaver says she is as well as expected (for a woman her age with her medical conditions). Dr. Gwinn is pleased with the eye surgery, but she has more diabetic nerve damage in the right eye than the left and there is more glaucoma damage in the right eye than the left. Dr. Clementson (Dermatologist) has taken several pre-cancer spots off Mom’s face and one cancer spot (non-melanoma). The next round of Doctor visit starts in March and does not end till the last of May. It will be almost time to start around round before the next round ends. Because the next round is spread out over a three month period, I will put updates after each Doctors visit. 

I wish that I had put an update about Buddy on September 13, but I never got around to it. On that day Buddy had been with me 1 year. On Monday November 25 I had to put Buddy down. He had contracted Feline Leukemia and there is no cure for it. He must have contracted it when I had him fix (neutered). Animal Allies was running a special an I took him. The Doctor that put him down said that he had cats before that had been to Animal Allies and he thinks that is were they are getting it.

Now I don’t have my Buddy to help me type when I am working on the computer. I don’t have my Buddy to sleep with me. I don’t have my Buddy to curl up in my arms. I don’t have my Buddy. I think that I got to attacked to Buddy. Please don’t think that I need another cat to take care of. because I don’t. I did not choose to have Buddy. Buddy chose me. I was thinking about taking Buddy to the Shelter, but I had not talked myself into, now I want have to.

I held Buddy while the Doctor gave him the anesthesia and I kept him calm till he when to sleep. Then the Doctor gave him the medication to euthanasia him and I stayed with him till his heart stopped beating. 

Mom is going to have the cataract removed from the right eye on Nov. 6. The cataract has just gotten worst over the past few months, so Dr. Gwinn has decided to go ahead and remove it. Being the second surgery to remove a cataract, Mom is not worried at all. She is talking about going out to breakfast after the surgery.

Mom has always wanted Dad to have a Veterans Marker. Thursday we went and paid for his marker to be placed. The marker is free, but we paid for the placement of the marker by the cemetery and the Marble Base. She was afraid that she would pass and it would never get put down. Now she knows that it will be placed at the foot of his grave by the end of this year, no matter what happens to her.

Another thing that she worried about was that she did not have enough Life Insurance to bury her, so I got the up-to-date cost of burial for her. It is going to be close, but I think we can make it. I told Mom that if we are a little short, that I will pass the hat at her funeral. Made her laugh.

I do not tell Mom, but if need be we can cut some corners. We can have Visitation at her Church, which would be at no cost. Forgo the Chapel Service for just a Grave Side Service and we could go for an eleven a.m. service instead of an afternoon service. An eleven a.m. service is about half the cost of an afternoon service.

Some people think that I am on Social Security Disability. I am not. I have enough disability that employer’s will not hire me, but not enough to draw disability. I did apply and was turned down and went all the way thought the court system. It took a full page for SSA to explain why I should get assistance and one line to tell me that I have to much education to receive Social Security Administration Disability Benifits. What education has to do with it I do not know, but it is very important to SSA in the formula they use.

Unless something changes, once Mom passes I will be on the street. Unless someone gets real generous and gives me a business to run.  By the way, it would need to be large enough that I can have an office. I can not stand on my feet very long.

I have talked about Mom’s Heart Condition before, but have never said what it is. She has Congestive Heart Failure. This is why her ankles swelling (Edema) and why she wheezes when she walks. This condition can lead to Strokes and Heart Attacks. She may live another two to three years and she may not wake up in the morning.

Fluid build up causes the swelling of the ankles and a build up of fluid around the Heart and Lungs is causing the wheezing. Some of the symptoms are Abdominal Pain (this is why she holds her stomach sometimes), High Blood Pressure, Bronchitis and other Breathing problems and Frequent Urination (why she has accidents). She also has High Cholesterol and some other health problems. All the foods she is not suppose to eat, she loves. She is not suppose to eat beef, pork or anything green. I try to keep these to a minimal in her diet. Can not take them out completely.

Mom was diagnose in 1994, so next year will be twenty years she has lived with this condition. The Doctor has talked about a Nebulizer, but Mom will not use it yet. The day will come that is will have no choice but to use it.

I hope this helps you to understand Mom’s health issues. If you have any questions please let me know. Please feel free to give my website address (http://jehj.tripod.com) to anyone who wants to keep up with Mom.

In the last two weeks Mom has seen the two doctors that she see the most. Dr. Weaver (her General Practitioner) told her “for a 81 year old woman with your health problems you are doing good.”

Dr. Gwinn (the eye doctor) says her pressures are within range. Her eye pressures are 17 that is up from 16. Mom has Glaucoma and is going blind. She can keep this at bay if she uses her eye drops as she is told. Dr. Gwinn did not get the results he wanted with the removal of the left Cataract and that is why the right one has not been removed.

Mom does not go anywhere except to church with Debra and she has mention stopping that. The excuse she is using is that it is out of Debra’s way to come get her. That excuse just does not fly with me, because it is just not that far out of Debra’s way. There is also a Granddaughter that comes within a 1/2 mile on her way to church, so she could stop and get Mom. Mom does not want the girls to know how bad off she is. She gets confused sometimes and she has accidents (bathroom). She still goes with me to the grocery store and out to eat once in awhile. She has to use a cart to get around a store. The girls don’t seem to understand that she can not walk around shopping for hours anymore and that is the reason she does not go anywhere with them. We are gone about two hours to the store and she goes to bed and sleeps most of the afternoon when we get back. It just wears her out.