CAREGIVING: We had a pretty good-sized snow storm on Thursday. I cancelled our aide Dilcia because I knew there was no place for her to park. Greater Springfield Seniors wanted to send a nurse to help develop the new treatment plan for Kathy. She will be getting more help with showers and companion care. The nurse had already postponed until Friday. But Friday it was just as bad, so she postponed until next Tuesday. Besides being really busy with graphic work and deadlines, I had to shovel out the car enough so that our parking area could be plowed. I drove the car down to the parking lot at the hardware store and walked back home. Kathy decided that she wanted to take a shower. I wasn’t planning on it and had already given her medicine to her, including her muscle relaxant. By the time the shower was done the meds had kicked in and it was like trying to move a life-sized Gumby. Getting her safely into her chair and dressed was a challenge. I finished feeding her breakfast at noon. I managed to get everything done and did some vacuuming (Marty seems to drop bits of his dog food everywhere). In between emailing proofs and changes back to clients, I was able to walk down and retrieve the car while Kathy slept.
Saturday was a fairly quiet day. And I needed it. I made french toast for breakfast. But again by the time I finished feeding her it was time for lunch. At least this morning I had enough sense to give her the meds after breakfast. I could feel the combination of shovelling and lifting Kathy. I did a bunch of laundry since we didn’t have any help this week. Kathy took a long nap and I was able to bring the recycling up to the dump without telling her. It is getting so hard to get her into and out of the car that I’m doing really short errands without telling her. It isn’t ideal but…. I’m also hoping to avoid taking her to the grocery store because it is so tough on her. I would also have to shovel a lot more to be able to get the car close enough. And we had even more snow today.
Hopefully once they set up our schedule things will be more tolerable. Oh and Spring would be nice, too.