I'm-m-m Ba-a-a-a-c-k...!!!!

So. Am I back? I guess. Just overwhelmed with all the blog posts out there I can't possibly read. Over a thousand, literally. And my Mom never discovered during her visit that I have blogs. That's a good thing.

The visit was good and I think it was good for my Mom. We went shoe shopping and to Michaels and Hobby Lobby and the grocery store - we even made it to Ihop. . . . so she got out of the house. We moved slowly and took our time and made sure we timed the shopping in-between nebulizer treatments.

We had moments in our underwear at 4:00 in the morning when there were breathing crisis's and nebulizer treatments were administered in the semi-darkness. Before I got better at it I handed my Mom her nebulizer when she was literally gasping for breath - and then realized it was empty. The medicine was in the little component sitting next to the one I actually connected to the machine. FAIL!

Mom spent a lot of time playing Solitaire on my computer or embroidering pillow cases like the ones my Grandma used to do, and I did a lot of knitting, something to keep my fingers busy while I wasn't on the Internet.

She also did things like driving her 3-wheeled walker straight through a paper-plate filled with canned cat food and rolled it from the kitchen to the foyer to the living room carpet. And didn't notice. She ate numerous bowls of chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup, and inevitably got chocolate fingerprints on the touch pad of my laptop - and on the refrigerator and freezer doors. She played Hansel and Gretal with a granola bar - eating it from the kitchen to her bedroom.

I told her "Ma, don't leave any clothes on the floor in your room. Riley likes to pee on clothing left on the floor." She said okay. A day later I gave her a laundry basket to put the clothes in --- --- --- that she had piled on the floor. No pee though, thank goodness.

It was good to have her here for Thanksgiving - pants at the table or no. My "vegetarian" Mother ate stuffed peppers with beef, pepperoni pizza, barbecued pork and turkey while she was here. Funniest vegetarian diet I've ever seen! My brother is right when he says the whole bottom of the food pyramid is chocolate for her. Especially dark chocolate because "You KNOW how good that is for you!"

The shower chair and hand held shower head were a hit, they were appreciated and there were no falls in the bathroom. But the squishy toilet booster seat? When I told my son Grandma was leaving his first question was "You mean I get to pee standing up?" That seat was just icky. And even ickier when I took if off the toilet. Ugh-h-h-h.

My daughter and fiancee' swooped in for a quick visit for part of a day which I was grateful for. My family rarely visits each other, I don't know when my kids might see my mom again. Or if - if I'm being truthful.

I'm not sure the cats ever quite figured out what that walker was, and one of them would usually wait outside the bathroom door for her - keeping the walker company.

So, she's gone back. I found her visit emotionally exhausting and I do not know how my brother does it. I really don't. She needs more care and we are going to have to start thinking about moving forward with some other arrangements. What those will be and how we will pay for them - I don't know yet.