Mom saw the doc today. He raised one of her water pills for 7 days to get this water off of her. So now she's on 100/80 spiraldactone/lasix, respectively. After a week, she'll go back down to 100/40. If it doesn't get rid of the water, he'll have to tap her. He said it's the only option left, but we really don't want to have to do that. It's painful for Mom and carries a fairly high risk of infection, and usually starts a cycle in which you have to continually tap. He told her that her crying spells are due to grief and that her anti-depressant isn't working anymore, so he switched it to a new one. We have a one month trial. Hopefully it does her some good. He also said for her to watch her protein intake, so we're cutting her "serving sizes" of meats down from 4 oz to 2 oz. He assured us that her meds aren't fighting each other, and that we can achieve a good balance to help Mom's symptoms and help her feel better. He also said she'll sleep better once we get her water weight down. Essentially, it's as if she's pregnant. She has belly weight sitting on a bladder that's irritated by interstitial cystitis. When her belly goes down and she loses all that ascites fluid, she should be able to sleep through the night without having to get up constantly or being uncomfortable. Hopefully, within a week, she'll be feeling much better.
She also interviewed another caregiver today. Her name is Toni (like Mom's sister, which gives us warm fuzzy feelings). I spoke with her on a sort of telephone interview yesterday for nearly an hour, and I'm quite pleased with her. She costs more than most, because she has a 4 hour minimum, but if we can get her 2-3 days a week, I'd feel much better about working and knowing my Mom is being watched over and not lonely all day long. Toni came over tonight to meet and interview with Mom, and they got along so incredibly well that she stayed for over four hours! They've decided to be friends, even if we can't afford her in the long run. She understands that this is a fluid business and that things change quickly. She knows I'm not ready to hire her until I start working again, but I'm applying to so many places, I feel like I HAVE to be hired again soon. I'm very hopeful. I know it's tough right now in the employment arena, but I'm searching daily and applying to 4-8 openings per day, and I believe that God does good things when we need him to, so I believe He will provide. He's saved our back sides more than a few times, and probably more that we never even noticed, and I have faith that everything will work out. I'm very happy with myself for picking caregivers that Mom likes (I'm two for two!) and I loved seeing her be social tonight.
Tonight, after dinner, Mom said, "Your meatloaf is just outrageous, and that was a pretty damn good dinner." And the dinner had veggies in it! She even mixed the mashed potatoes with some mashed zucchini and LIKED it. I'm so amazed by her sometimes. Sometimes she feels like giving up, and sometimes she looks like she's pulling through and doing so well. I believe this can be a "two steps forward, one step back" kind of situation, but I think she's making great progress. Today was just such an awesome day. I hope she keeps having great days like this.
I've also decided to launch my online business without the new awesome DBA. I don't want that to hold me up and I can always change it later, when I can come up with something utterly brilliant. In the meantime, I can still get some more cash into that caregiver account. I also checked on my tax return, and although 25% was taken (probably by my creditors, but I'll have to make sure it's legal...only feds should be able to do that, and only up to 15%, so I have to look into it), it's still a nice chunk headed our way in about a month. I'll be able to get my car fixed before the engine falls out (I need a motor mount and brakes), and put more in the caregiver account, and maybe get the dogs their shots. Yay for good things! Maybe we can even afford to get Aunt Toni out here again and get her southern arse to a beach and enjoy California again. I can (almost) picture Aunt Toni and Mom on a beach and taking small, careful steps barely into the waves, just getting their feet wet. Mom will be the one under the umbrella.
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