CAREGIVING: Thursday Kathy has been sleeping pretty well on the pillar of pillows. Kind of like the princess and the pea story. She has a lot of congestion when she is getting ready for bed. And I can hear it when I’m close to her and working on her teeth. But sleeping upright really helps a lot. I woke her up Thursday morning. It was pretty rainy out. Gave her a shower and washed her hair. I got a call from one of our agencies that our aide for the afternoon, Dilcia, was sick too. They offered to send a replacement but I said no. It means starting from scratch with someone. Showing them where everything is. And how to do stuff. Too much work to save work. Kathy gets nervous when somebody new comes although she is 100% better about that now. I did find time to make Kathy’s mammogram appointment and signed her up with a new dentist that accepts MassHealth. In the afternoon we did Kathy’s exercises. Her legs are very weak so at the end of each attempt I lift her leg or foot or arm to get some sort of extension out of it.
Friday I let Kathy sleep too long again and getting her walking was tough. No balance or strength. Melissa came to give her her shower. I had to help quite a bit. Kathy was having trouble getting into the shower so it took some extra effort getting her onto the shower bench. Then after the shower I had to help get her out again. Melissa got her dressed and made the bed and ran the vacuum. So that was a big help. Lynn came and worked with Kathy doing exercises and we discussed her movement problems. She talked about just coming a few more times. We ate lunch and Kathy took a long nap after.
At 3 we took Marty, our basset hound, to Dianna’s the groomer down the street. He was overdue to get his nails clipped. We had an earlier appointment that we had to cancel when Kathy got sick. But she felt up for getting out of the house. We had to leave extra early to use the chair lift and get her and Marty into the car. It went fine and we were early enough that I could stop at the store and pick up more cough medicine for tonight and give Marty a little walk near the groomers. Lots of deja poo there for him to smell. With Marty at the spa I took Kathy home. That little trip was pretty exhausting for her. I help her in the house and she needs to sit on a chair inside the door to rest while I park. Then I strap her into the chair lift.
When Marty was ready I went down alone to get him. To say he was glad to see me is an understatement. But the other dogs were glad to see me too. He had a little Christmas bandana on and he had a nice manly cologne smell – for a day at least.