Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2009. It was Brandon's 19th birthday, and Mattie and Jocelyn were there to celebrate their friend with an ice cream party. It is hard to believe that both Mattie and Jocelyn both lost their lives to osteosarcoma. Though Brandon and Jocelyn were older than Mattie, age did not matter. These three connected and supported each other in a very special way. It is something I will never forget!

Quote of the day: With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

It was another full day on the farm. The usual routine is wearing. That's the best I can say. Some days I wake up and I wonder whether I will make it through the day. Of course seeing all that I do for my parents, I ponder, when I get older..... who will be doing this for me?! In all reality one can have children, but not every child will take on the burdens of caregiving. So having children is no guarantee. Not everyone is cut out for this role, and for good reason. 

After dropping my dad off at his memory care center, I took my mom to the hospital for physical therapy. The therapist is well aware of my mom's memory issues and during the next session, the therapist wants my mom to run through ALL the exercises she is doing at home. In fact next week's whole session, 45 minutes, will be devoted to this! That caused me today to come home and evaluate exactly what my mom is doing! I have assembled a notebook of all the exercises this therapist has given my mom. But like I suspected, my mom isn't using it and isn't doing most of these exercises. Instead, her brain is stuck on the former exercises she learned in California. Though that is fine, this defeats the purpose of her current therapy plan. 

So over the next week, I will have to sit with my mom and make sure she is doing the correct exercises, because I could see how this would play out next week. If my mom entered the session and went through her routine with the therapist, and if the routine did not include any of her current exercises, I would imagine this would cause the therapist to think twice about suggesting more therapy. After all what would be the point? I do not want this to happen, as I feel like my mom needs this professional support, so on top of managing my dad's full time care, I now have to also add in doing therapy with my mom. That is of course on top of all the other support I provide my mom. 

This evening while juggling several other things, I made dinner. Peter is growing beets in our garden. So tonight, I steamed the beets and made a beet and orange salad with fresh mint and parsley from our garden. It was delicious!

Tomorrow, Thursday, Peter undergoes surgery. He has to be at the hospital at 6am. Though I wanted to take him to the hospital, he is going on his own, and after I drop my dad off at the memory care center, I will head to the hospital. My friends, who also lost their only child to cancer, are graciously coming over to have lunch with my mom and keep her company. I am very grateful for the support. Think good thoughts for Peter tomorrow for a successful surgery and quick recovery time.