Friday, February 12, 2010

End of the Week

Today is quite an easy day :). Only have two kids plus my grandson. Love the holidays! Timing could not be better. Pms arrived yesterday morning. So far, so good. Mild symptoms. All in all, my energy is good with only slight grumpiness :). No pain from either fibro or pms. That is great!

I am desiring to begin a new crotchet project of a child's blanket. This would be nice to help me relax and feel productive in a personal way. My grandson is still wearing his slippers I made for him. They truly work in keeping his feel nice and warm and his socks a lot cleaner!

The tree in the front yard seems to be doing well so far. A few of the branches are drooping just slightly. It was suggested to put vitamin B-1 for newly planted trees on the roots. I've been doing that once a week. I think she will be fine.

I "finally" put my car in the shop to get the heater core repaired...YAY! I will finally have some heat when I drive the car :-D! I've been wearing my jacket, my hat and using a blanket over my lap just to stay warm when I take my kid to school or to San Diego. Yes, I have the van, a full size, 1990, V8 engine gas guzzler! I love my van cause it is so big, but he uses twice the gas that the car does. So, certain trips, I prefer to use the car....with only a few adjustments LOL! It took a while to save up the money, but I did it.

I'm rather confused about my cousin and his condition. I think I am too close to help him to be objective about what needs to be done for him. Doctor thinks depression is the cause for his lack of participation in physical therapy and for him not eating. I know him to be extremely private and truly not liking to be told what to do. He is 66 years old and, as most older people, set in his ways. He is very coherent so he understands what is going on. I find helping him to make decisions to be quite frustrating. He is loosing weight and getting physically more weak. I would truly hate for his health to deteriorate due to his own stubbornness. I am going to go visit him tomorrow, saturday. We will see how things go from there.

Well, that is all the excitement in my little life :-D. Happy weekend to everyone.

Positive thoughts and prayers!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Progress....

I drove an hour to San Diego last night after the daycare closed at 7:00pm. It rained alot and very hard. I felt quite anxious to get to my cousin. Since he has had his stroke a week and a half ago, he has been having a series of seizures. Doctor says, this is normal when the brain has been traumatize by a stroke.

I am the closest relative to him and I am an hour away. He has been refusing to eat because his family is not around him. So, he asked the doctor to call me. He sounded quite groggie but I explained to him I would be down to see him that night. I felt anxious all day long as I waited for the daycare to close so I could leave.

Once arriving, he did not look like himself at all. He did not have his teeth in his mouth and he had not shaved. In all my childhood and adulthood, I have never seen him this way. At first, it frightened me. Then I put it into perspective.

The nurse was in the process of giving him his medications, which he was not cooperating. I asked her if I can do it. I was firm with him and he did take them. Often, I don't think nurses are caring enough. They tend to be overworked with many patience and don't have the time to be nurturing. This made me feel worse because I am so far away and unable to get to him like I'd like to. He is also refusing to eat.

I just spoke to the nurse today. I had a few complaints as to how they are doing things with him. It seems very 20 mins they are waking him up to check temperature, urine, give meds, etc. They pull the blankets off of him. They flip on those bright lights in his face. It seems to me they can do all those things at once and be done so he can go to sleep. I arrived about 8:40pm. They kept coming in there, at different intervals, until I left at 10:20pm! Then they get him up early in the morning for physical therapy and he is still groggie. He has not truly slept since he's been in there. In addition, they give him something to make him sleep and he is unable to sleep it off after being interrupted every 20 mins!

So, when I spoke with the nurse today, I let her know, I want the doctor to call me back as soon as he can and I want to be included in the meeting they are having on monday via conference call. The nurse asked me if I put in a complaint to the head nurse. I did not know about all that. This is my first time having to be the decision maker of a family member. When my mom died, my aunt did it.

I will wait to talk to the doctor. In the meantime, I will try to calm my anger. I am really upset. I'm sure it is because it is the fear of the possibility of the end if it is not handled correctly. I have to get my perspective back in focus.

Happy thoughts and prayers....lots!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Figured It Out

Wow! All this time, I'm thinking I am in pain caused by the stress of adjusting to the new schedule....hmmmm. I got to thinking. I've been without my supplements for about 2 weeks, procrastination. It is more likely that the reverse; the pain is causing the stress. I can't relax, can't sleep, can't rest due to the pain of the fibromyalsia. It's a constant discomfort very similar to what muscles feel like after having done a workout.

My son is off work for this evening. I had him to go pick them up. I took them immediately. Will probably take a few days to really get into my system. I also feel a bit dehydrated. Not drinking water as I use to. I'm having all the symptoms, shortness of breath, muscle discomfort, migraines, fatigue and unable to sleep well.

I look forward to getting back on track. I don't know what I was thinking. I need the supplements more at this point than ever with the new kids and the new schedule...guess I had a senior moment LOL!

Positive thoughts and prayers!

Tough Adjustment

I'm having a difficult time adjusting to the new schedule of my new kids. The kids are sooooo awesome. They are well behaved and polite. The problem is getting up at 5am, taking my son to school for 6:35am, taking the girls to school for 8:15am and, in the afternoon, picking up a child from a different school at 12:15pm. My previous schedule was getting up at 6am, never leaving the house and first kid arriving at 7am with no afternoon pick up.

Everything changed at the same time. My older son started school and his new job which caused me to have to take my younger son to school. Then, a few weeks later, the sibling set started at 5:30am.

I also have to get my grandson up that early because my daughter is not home from work until 8:30am. No one is home to keep him. As a result, my grandson is quite cranky due to loss of sleep. To make up for the sleep, I try to put him to bed earlier. This is difficult because his normal bedtime is 8pm. To put him to bed at 7pm, his mom is just getting up to go to work which her process disturbs him because he hears her between the bathroom and the bedroom. So, I thought about putting him to bed at 6 or 6:30pm, but that seems so early. Yesterday, my daughter took her shower way earlier which allowed him to have some time with her and him to get to bed about 7:30pm which not early enough. Seven pm would be much better.

I believe it is a transitional adjustment. I'm hoping it will get better in time :).

Positive thoughts and prayers :)