Mama has been doing all kinds of interesting things lately. When I came in this evening, she asked me, "What is your name?" I almost fell over. I told her, and she said, "Connie?" Then she said, "Come here." She put her hands on both my cheeks, kissed me on the lips, on each cheek, and my forehead, She smiled and said, "Thank you."

Beverly said she has been talking a lot the past couple of days. She told them to "Go" every time they tried to give her a bath or clean her up. She pointed to the door and told them she "wanted to go to that thing."

Christie is here this evening. Mama kept trying to get up out of her chair saying, "I am going there." We couldn't figure out what she wanted so I told Christie we should get her up and see what she would do. I got her walker, but she just pushed it aside and held onto Christie for support. Mama headed straight to the silverware drawer in the kitchen, took out a big plastic serving spoon, a spatula, and the thing that grips lids that are too tough to open. She then headed for the dining room and set the table using the above items. She headed back for the kitchen and opened the fridge door. She reached in and got out the cheesy hotdogs I keep for doggie treats and a jar of jelly. She headed back for the dining room and sat at her place at the table. Christie and I weren't sure what to do, so I decided we should see what she would do with the wiener. She ate that just fine and grabbed for the jelly. She opened the jar and proceeded to try to drink the jelly. Christie sat with her while I served up some rice pudding. Mama took up the spoon and ate every bite. I got her some juice, and she sucked that down, too. She started reaching for another wiener, and I was a little afraid for her to eat too many so I fixed her a bowl of peaches. She ate all of that and still wanted more. She had a banana and some ice cream. I am not sure if she ate anything else; we were just amazed at all she was chomping on.

Christie's husband had dropped her off here and taken their three children to Sargent for supper. They stopped back here to share hamburgers with us. Mama ate quite a few French fries on top of all the other stuff she had already eaten. We were kind of afraid it would make her sick, but so far she seems fine.

I am not sure if this is one of those temporary things, if it is a new phase, or if it is like those times when someone gets better just before they get worse. With this disease, who can tell?

I think I will go soak for a while. Until next time,
Hugs,

10/14/04
Today Mama has had three spells where she gags like she needs to upchuck, but nothing happens. Beverly said Mama got real sweaty and clammy when this happened. I guess she may be having some more mini-strokes, but really don't know. Beverly said she will call Hospice in the morning and see what they suggest.

Huzza Huzza is having all kinds of trouble with his paw. First he got the snake bite, and then today Beverly called and said it looked like he had cut his paw. It is the same one, but it looks like he must have stepped on glass or something. It is swollen and he can't put his weight on it. I had both puppies in earlier, but Blackberry kept trying to jump on Huzza Huzza and lick his wounds. I put him outside. I guess I will take HH with me tomorrow and call the vet. I am already giving him antibiotic for the snake bite so am not sure what else I need to do. I tried putting medicine and a bandage on it this evening, but the bandage seemed to hurt him and he licked off all the medicine. Guess I will keep him inside tonight. I will probably break down and let BB in too.

need to go check on my charges.

hugs,

10/15/04
Dear All,

I brought the 'boys' in the house last night so I could keep a watch on Huzza Huzza's paw. I fixed up a nice little bed on the floor by my bed...that didn't work. They jumped trying to get on my bed, but it is too high for them to get to it without help. They would jump and HH would whine because his paw hurt. They kept jumping until I finally gave in and put them on my bed. Of course, they wanted to scoot right up next to me so every time I turned over, I rolled on top of one of them--usually HH and his hurt paw!!

I took HH to school with me today so I could get him to the vet. It was strange to have him without Blackberry. The kids fussed over him until he finally crawled up in my lap and went to sleep. I took him to the vet around 11:30 and picked him up after school. His paw is all bandaged up. I guess they gave him a shot of pain killer because it was hurting him so badly. They medicated it, bandaged it, waited a while and took the bandage off so she could put some more medicine and some surgical glue on it to hold it together and a new bandage. I have instructions to keep the bandage dry and clean all weekend. That should be a real challenge!! Guess I will have sleeping partners all weekend. This may be the start of a trend. I am to take him back to the vet on Monday morning so she can check him out. They said it probably would have been worse if I had not already been giving him an antibiotic for the snake bite.

Christie just caught me up on Mama info. The Hospice nurse thinks she may be biting the fur off of her LazyBoy raccoon and choking on that. So we have to take that away from her. She was enjoying it so much, giggling when it would sing, but I guess it is better to take it away than have it make her sicker. We are going to have to take her cup and straw away from her as soon as she finishes with the drink. She has been chewing on the straws and hiding the cup under her sheet so the nurse was afraid she might choke on that. I guess Beverly asked about Mama swallowing her tongue, and she said for us not to get tongue depressors because many elderly patients bite them in half which causes new problems. Will wait to chat with Beverly about what we need to get for that--Christie said maybe we needed to get a rubber spatula or something.

Mama has started pulling off her socks, which is a real shocker since the only time I can remember her feet ever being bare was when she took a bath. She has managed to pull her diaper off several times, too. She has been kicking her covers off, as well. None of these things are in her usual behavior patterns.

Need to go check on my puppies and my mama.

Hugs to all,

10/18/04
Dear All,

I took Huzza Huzza back to the vet today. I left him off at 7:30 this morning so they could check his foot. When I picked him up this afternoon, they said his foot looked good and was not infected--thank goodness. I take him back on Wednesday so they can take the bandage off--maybe for good. I still have to continue his medicine twice a day, but he takes it really well when I stuff it in a piece of cheese hotdog. Once again I am extremely thankful this didn't happen to Blackberry, because he chews the goodie and spits out the pill!!

Mama has been itching really badly. We are pretty sure it is a yeast infection. Her regular doctor is out of the office so her partner gave us some liquid medicine to give her for three days. I hope that clears it up. Her eye is all swollen, too. We now have to put eye-drops in her eye three times a day for 10 days. We are not sure if it is allergy, pink eye, or as the doctor thinks--infected because she rubbed her eye after scratching.

I had my yearly observation this morning. It went really well, and the report was very complimentary. I am certainly glad to have that over. It is not anywhere near as stressful as in Corpus, but I still get a bit nervous.

Mosquitoes are awful around here. My bug zapper was full this afternoon. We have been spraying Yardguard and I have lit a couple of those coils we used to use at the drive-in movies, and they are still swarming. All that rain has given us a bumper crop!!

Hugs to all,