Just another Day With Mom – Good Grief She is Driving Me Batty: So she got a slight fever and was very tired. This passed in two days and she was better yet still sleepy. This was my four day stint – Thursday, Friday Saturday Sunday with her solid. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday during work the Aid Vivian comes but only until I’m back home from work and then she is all mine again…ukk … well over the next two weeks she was tired I was told but she didn’t’ have a fever and I spoke to the doctor and he saw her and she was okay , we couldn’t figure it out and we decided to schedule blood work…then it hit me…the aide had taken another job in the evening hours where her sole job is too watch this old guy sleep and help him go to the bathroom if needed, she lays in a cot next to him and sleeps and watches tv all night. Well, mom was sleeping and sleeping and at night she was so weak she was trying to get up not sleeping but falling out of bed EVERY NIGHT…on the floor and not making it to the commode and an accident…the smack in the side of the head, the one that hit me came then…she isn’t doing PT anymore – we do it every day and over my days she was pushing through it like when she started and every day Vivian told me she was too tired to do it…then I finally realized what was happening – it was like an baby that has its’ hours mixed up sleeps all day and up all night – only she was getting weaker and weaker – I was so sleep deprived I have to admit I was not pleasant at all to either my mom and especially that good for nothing aide – I sat her down and told her I do not want mom sleeping more than forty-five minutes a day – I want her to do her PT and I want her to walk her walk up and down the street every day weather permitting – I want you to keep her awake – she tells me she can’t force her – she will loose her job – I tell her that forcing someone to do something that is physical and will hurt her is one thing, waking her up and persuading her is another – this was a Thursday – she says my mom is too hard – I tell her to re-evaluate her job and maybe she should find a different one because this isn’t about what she can and can’t do – it is about my mother’s health – her ability to continue to walk and do for herself and she should let me know by Tuesday her decision – that weekend I was like a tape recorder all day for two solid days – wake up wake up every ten minutes she was exhausted – PT was worthless but that second night she slept like a baby through the night – next day PT was easier – the aide called in sick that Tuesday and Wednesday so by the next Thursday when she came it was a solid week alone with her and I was going nuts and felt like I was in jail but mom was sleeping through the night and getting up occasionally to use the commode if needed – doing her PT with a vengeance first thing in the morning so she could see The Guiding Light at 10 am then doing her walk outside and walking up and down the hall twice every hour – picking up her coins for dexterity – this helping her feed herself easier – everything – brushing her teeth and yes – sleeping at night and she stills needs to be monitored but is  alot more self sufficient with eyes on her – and me – I was snoring like a baby with the intercom on and am very proud of her and myself for doing what we had to do…Vivian is a bit perturbed and I have put in a request for a replacement – this will take awhile since mom is state funded and we are at the end of the list here – so she uses a walker for about a year now but I have her cane – I always put her cane under the bed and lay cloth pads down in case she falls and place a plastic bench near her and tell her to use the cane and bang on the bench if she needs me – the intercom is on the wall and her voice is soft because the Parkinson’s has affected her vocal cords – she sings every day to make them stronger and that is incredible that when she does you hear her – well…last night I don’t’ here her banging with the cane on the bench like she fell but I hear scuffling and heavy breathing and I am concerned – it is like 4:15 – I come down the stairs to the first level where she sleeps and there she is on the floor – she says she is trying to reach her clean underwear – I help her up – she has none on – where are your panties – she wears depends – they are in the garbage says she – she slid off the bed – so I see now what is happening – she is too lazy to go to the commode so she sits on the end of the bed and slides off and now is stripping and changing on the pads on the floor making them soiled and then she is too lazy to get up again so she is using the cane as a fishing pole to reach the cleans pairs I have left on a tray next to the commode – I help her and help her in bed and I am furious and take the soiled laundry to the washer and start the load and go back to bed and the next day – today I try and explain to her she needs to go to the commode and call me if she needs help and the cane isn’t a fishing pole and blahblahblah and she smiles and says – shhh – my story is on …ratatatata…shit…….God knows what the lesson is I am learning here – but it is a hard one…back to work tomorrow – I love going to work – I know you think that is odd – but I get out of the house and don’t have to worry – unless that lazy aid is letting her sleep again….hhhmmm…no time to visit – miss everyone – I will visit soon – many huggs to all of you…Sassy