Midgie December 27, 2005 at A/G

Dear family and friends,

Titled: A rambling update on 'oui' and MOM! I rambled a bit!!!

I am sorry I have not keep you up to date on mom the last few days. Karen and I have had house guests, Karen's mom and dad from Hickory, NC plus I am getting over a bad cold like the crud going around I am told. We saw mom Christmas day and all us went by to see her after Church. We did 1st Presbyterian in Bessemer at 10:00am Christmas morning, then all of us went by Ashton Gables and had Christmas with mom. She was happy to see the 4 of us and she looked great. Mom enjoyed presents from us and a new calendar from Jason and Diane and Rhett.

We went back home and had lunch then we opened gifts Christmas afternoon, a first for us, but a busy morning with Church, Midgie, and driving about 60 miles roundtrip. But it was fun and Midgie enjoyed our visit.

I did not go to Ashton Gables monday but went with the Clarks and Karen to see another friend in a nursing home at Hanover, behind St. Vincent's hospital. Annie Taylor has been there now 5 years and she too enjoyed our visit. We then went to see her hubby Bob Taylor who lives off Old Leeds Road in Mountain Brook. The Clarks had not seen these folks in over year and Karen and I are good friends with both of them. Again a nice visit and friendships nenewed.

Tuesday was a full day of work for me but I planned my work around a visit to Ashton Gables, and checking on mom's home in Bessemer. I finished in Homewood about 3:00pm and checked on mom's home, got the mail, and drove to A/G. Mom was in her room but having somewhat of a gray day? When she has days like this, she is a little drowsy and I checked with the nurse Lynda on duty to make sure they were not sedating mom too much. It turns out mom had turned her day and night around last night and had not slept and now was sleepy during the day. I stayed until 5:30pm when dinner was in the dinning room and helped her RA get mom there. She was there when I left, not telling her goodbye as she gets so unhappy with that. Tell her you are going to get something and then slip out, and she does fine.

Mom really is adapting pretty much as expected. She knows her RA now and they know her and her needs and likes and dislikes. I am still please with our choice of where mom should be now. I see each day that she needs more than I could possibly give her at 513. But we beat the odds when Dr. Portante said 3 to 6 months and we did almost 4 1/2 years! It is time....love, Jeff and Karen