Personal blog of christian
writer & fallible mom
Katy McKenna Raymond
in Kansas City, Missouri
Katy is represented by
Greg Johnson at
WordServe Literary
Read more Katy at
LateBoomer.net
Recent Posts
- Try
- Becoming Brenda Starr
- Off Beat
- Scattered
- That’s It
- So I’ve Finally Signed With An Agent. Now What?
- The Spoon
- Sciatica
- Sweetheart
- A Woman’s Train of Thought Has No Caboose
- However much we own, we are all still living on borrowed time
- After all, when restaurants shrink portions, they don’t shrink prices.
- As with everything in life, balance is key.
- Slow down, you move too fast…
- Yeah, I know. I have issues.
Syndicate
E me at katy @ ngenius.com
It’s Been A Very Extremely Long Three Months, And Then Some
I…I…I…well, that was weird. After typing the word “I,” nothing else came. For a long time, perhaps thirty seconds.
I felt like Ricky Ricardo used to sound when he’d say “I-I-I-I-I” to Lucy, only both of them knew just what he meant. If he’d been speaking English, it couldn’t have been clearer.
I’ll start again: She-she-she-she-she. Ah, that’s more like it.
Mama, that is. She had a meltdown ten days or so ago, a crying jag which lasted a good four hours, longer than she bawled when either of her parents died, or my father, for that matter.
She was nearly paranoid, I’d say, convinced that her current Funny Farm was keeping her there against her will, that she’d never get sprung, that she’d never see the light of Harrah’s casino again in this lifetime.
She said (rightly) that she’d seen four roommates come and go, and that the one with her now would soon be on her way home, too. She cried that everyone was getting better except for her, that her arm would be broken forever, that she would never be whole.
It came to a head during wheelchair volleyball (dear Lord, deliver me!), when a lady named Janet told the group that she’d be going home the next day. Mom couldn’t hold back her feelings. She said, loud enough for fifteen deaf oldsters to hear, “Bragger!”
Mom would not be dissuaded from her belief that she’d live out the last of her sorry days in a space the size of an office cubicle until I’d involved her RN and the social worker.
I would have tracked down the chaplain for counseling and maybe a little Extreme Unction, just in case, except that Mom lost faith in her when I let slip that the gal is a Methodist.
“What?” Mom said, outraged. “But this is a Catholic joint! Wait till I tell the others at lunch…”
Anyway, by late that afternoon we’d talked her down from the ledge, and convinced her that no one can make her stay there against her will. Of course, we had no way of knowing whether the assisted living facility in her retirement complex would take her in her present condition, either.
All I knew was that the minute insurance stopped paying for her therapy, I’d need to spring her.
The last week has been spent in a flurry of geriatric activity the likes of which I hope to engage in as seldom as possible during the rest of my ever-shortening life.
Sunday, Bridget and Baillie (my sister and her darling daughter) came to town and the three of us packed Mom’s belongings at the apartment she left three months ago, when she broke her humerus and a rib. This Saturday, we’ll move her stuff into her new assisted living apartment. Next Monday, Doug and I will move Mom out of the nursing home, into her new digs.
I’ve ordered a hospital bed, purchased a portable wheelchair, done all the interviews to get her a power chair through Medicare, gotten a transfer bath bench—and that’s just the durable medical equipment, people.
Then there’s the non-durable, fragile human component: Dignity to preserve, decision-making power to relinquish, responsibility to assume, losses to comfort.
The Scripture that comes to me every day now is “Let everything be done decently and in order.”
I-I-I-I-I…I’m trying, Lord. I really am.
- I hope your mom will be happier in her new apartment. She should be very thankful for a daughter like you. We'll keep you all in our prayers.
Posted by Pattie on 11/02/05 at 12:32 PM
- Praying for strength, Katy.
Posted by Carrie K. on 11/02/05 at 01:18 PM
- breathe in, breathe out
take in His goodness and allow Him to lead you in the decision making process
(laughed about the methodist comment.)Posted by Lorna on 11/03/05 at 07:37 AM - Pattie--Mom's a funny girl. She's very entertaining, but she's never been happy. I do think there are levels to her unhappiness, though, and I think maybe we can upgrade a bit... Thanks for prayer!
Carrie K--Thank you so much. It's bad when your life's goal becomes to live long enough to get the old ladies "settled," if you know what I mean. ;)
Lorna--And to think Mom grew up Protestant! Then she converted to Catholicism when she married Dad. When he died 21 years ago, she pretty much stopped going to church. But she sure is picky, huh? ;)Posted by Katy on 11/03/05 at 07:47 AM - Hi guys. Really neat. Nana will get a kick out of it when I show her.
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