Friday, May 6, 2011

Ding-dong mom

As my sister likes to call her, recently.

So, my mom has decided it's ok to walk half a mile to the store despite the fact that she used to rarely make it around the block. Or despite the fact that the last time she walked to the store she was 10 years younger.

First time she did it she was spaced out for days. My sister called her one day and my mom had never gotten out of her PJ's and didn't know when she ate and it was 5:00 pm or so.

Second time, yesterday, she fell and was sent to the emergency room and got 10 stitches and a broken nose. Thankfully she had her cell phone which we had saved 'Emergency' number.

So, I'm going next Wed for a week to see if I can help set up a situation that works for her. Hopefully she's been scared straight a little. We don't need her falling and breaking her hip either at home or outside.

If you have any ideas for solutions, I'm open to them! So far I have:
- have a bulletin board with days of the week and what she's doing
- set up a ride in the van to the senior center Mon,Wed,Fri where she can get a cheap lunch (trouble is, she has to go from 8-1)
- she currently takes a van Tues/Thurs to go volunteer at a thrift store.
- teach her to take naps in the afternoon
- have her carry her cell all the time on her person, and charge it every night
My siblings and I each have a day to call her 3x a day to make sure she has eaten.

She needs to stay at home as long as possible, or at least the next 6 months. It would be too hard to move into assisted living right now.

Sigh

5 comments:

laura b. said...

How difficult. I'm glad your mom was not too badly injured on her little adventure.

I wish I had some advice to offer. My parents are just entering that phase where they are a bit more frail and frankly, I find it a bit scary.

Susan said...

Around here we have people who will sit with the elderly a few hours a day. This might be something that could come in handy. She'd still be home but there'd be someone who could be with her a bit of the day.

Mel said...

I think we have a few more options, being the bitty town midwest place that we are.

We have visiting nurses. We have volunteers that stop in--some read, some play cards, some help with whatever folks need help with. We have an awesome volunteer set up.

And there's always that necklace alert for folks that can't manage a cellphone....or who forget how they have one. A trusted neighbor or local friend?

It's scary, undoubtedly.
Himself's mum has a bus that comes to her home to pick her up and take her places.
She hates being stuck at home so will wander out. The grandkids put in a garden for her to tend to--so that's helped with the 'getting out' issue. But making arrangements for folks to go in has been trying to say the least.

Tara said...

What a stressful situation for all of you! I'm so sorry your mom fell, too, and got all banged up!

The van is a good idea! My mom takes a van whenever she has to go to the hospital for regular tests. She schedules it so that the van picks her up, and then I can pick her up on the way home from work.

Churlita said...

Oh, that's so scary. I don't have parents, so I'm not very helpful, but The Guy's mom got hit by a car last year and she's a lot more frail than she was before that.