Hello everyone,
Well, hasn't this weather been lovely? Up here in Westford we had a little snow when I got up yesterday - maybe 4 or 5 inches - but it has rained ever since! I'll take that over piles of snow any day!
Lita is doing well. In the last couple of weeks we have played a lot of games, watched TV, read, done arts & crafts, etc. Last Thursday we completed several scrapbook pages for an album we are making for Peter.
On the medical front, they have changed from taking three liters of fluid from her stomach a day to two liters a day. This change hasn't been comfortable for Lita. She is working with hospice to see if they can come up with a happy medium. They don't want to do it every day because of the toll it takes on the body even if she doesn't necessarily feel the effects of that toll. And she had an instance where when they took three liters and her blood pressure dropped too low. So we will have to see what they come up with.
Last week Darren took Lita to get her eyes checked because she was saying that her vision was blurry. While she was there the doctor asked her to read a line she had just read and she said it was blurry. He was like, "but you just read it with the same settings." Lita told him that was the problem. So the doc checked out her eyes and found that there was swelling in the iris. He gave her some prescription drops that she takes every four hours, and that has helped a great deal. Tomorrow she goes back to see the doc and hopefully he can give her the eye exam and see if she needs a new prescription.
Her apartment is about cleaned out. On Saturday the movers will be taking the hand-made furniture to Pete's grandmothers to store until he is older and gets a place of his own.
Well, that is it for now. I will write again soon.
Clydene
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
A Month Later
Hi everyone,
Sorry I haven't posted for the last week. I was without a computer for a few days and am just getting back online. It has been a good week. Lita is now being drained every day, and it has been helping her immensely. Today she even went up and down the stairs by herself! Considering where she was a month ago, this is huge news!
As she has been here she has been getting stronger. She has something going on almost every day. The visiting nurse comes daily. The home health aide comes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Thursdays are the big day where the Reiki practitioner comes and, starting today, an art therapist. Lita and I will be learning some type of technique where you do your artwork within a circle. I don't know much about it, but evidently they have found that patients find something comforting about this technique. I'll share more about it later after I have experienced it. And on the weekends she gets visits by varied and sundried characters.
When she isn't busy with people from hospice or visitors, Lita keeps busy. During the week she and my husband spend a lot of time together keeping each other company talking about who knows what. Sometimes she reads. She is currently reading "Table for Five" by Susan Wiggs. Darlyne gave me that book, and when I was done with it, I passed it on to Lita. It is a really nice book.
On Tuesday we spent a bit of time going through some of the stuff that I have brought here from her apartment and she is now busy crocheting with the yarn I brought home. She has also been drawing and coloring. You should see some of the upside-down work she has done along with my daughter. We also play a lot of board and card games to pass the time.
This morning Lita and I were talking about the fact that as she is getting stronger she will start to go stir-crazy. We are going to see about getting her a wheelchair so that I can take her out to the store or to the movie theater on days when she feels up to it.
Well, that is it for now. I hope you enjoyed getting caught up.
Clydene
Sorry I haven't posted for the last week. I was without a computer for a few days and am just getting back online. It has been a good week. Lita is now being drained every day, and it has been helping her immensely. Today she even went up and down the stairs by herself! Considering where she was a month ago, this is huge news!
As she has been here she has been getting stronger. She has something going on almost every day. The visiting nurse comes daily. The home health aide comes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Thursdays are the big day where the Reiki practitioner comes and, starting today, an art therapist. Lita and I will be learning some type of technique where you do your artwork within a circle. I don't know much about it, but evidently they have found that patients find something comforting about this technique. I'll share more about it later after I have experienced it. And on the weekends she gets visits by varied and sundried characters.
When she isn't busy with people from hospice or visitors, Lita keeps busy. During the week she and my husband spend a lot of time together keeping each other company talking about who knows what. Sometimes she reads. She is currently reading "Table for Five" by Susan Wiggs. Darlyne gave me that book, and when I was done with it, I passed it on to Lita. It is a really nice book.
On Tuesday we spent a bit of time going through some of the stuff that I have brought here from her apartment and she is now busy crocheting with the yarn I brought home. She has also been drawing and coloring. You should see some of the upside-down work she has done along with my daughter. We also play a lot of board and card games to pass the time.
This morning Lita and I were talking about the fact that as she is getting stronger she will start to go stir-crazy. We are going to see about getting her a wheelchair so that I can take her out to the store or to the movie theater on days when she feels up to it.
Well, that is it for now. I hope you enjoyed getting caught up.
Clydene
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Did you know?
I am a scrapbooker. No, that isn't what I was asking you if you knew ;-) Anyway, a few years ago I decided to do a scrapbook layout about Lita, and I interviewed her for the page. I don't remember all of the questions I asked her - I'll have to dig that page up and maybe I can scan it and post it to this blog. I do, however, remember one question and answer very well because it was such a surprise to me. The question was, "What did you want to be when you grew up?" I was probably expecting her to say something like "a teacher." But no, my sister said she wanted to be a boy!
Now, as you can imagine, this was all a bit shocking to me? I thought, "did she have a gender identity crisis when she was little?" "Why would she want to be a boy?" Well, her reason was a bit of a surprise too, especially since I was so much younger than her that this would not come into play. She wanted to be a boy because she wanted to be a baseball player! I have been planning on writing about this for a few days, but an email she got from her childhood friend reminded me that I hadn't done it. Trish wrote "what happened to my friend who wanted to be a southpaw pitcher for the Redsox?" (or something to that affect). Thanks for the reminder, Trish.
Well, now that I am done with my little story, here is your "Lita update." Not much new to report. Lita is feeling about the same as she has been for the last couple of weeks. She is eating well, and the only problems she has been experiencing have to do with the fluid build-up, and last night she had a slight back ache. The new medication for the sleeping has been helping. Today she got through a bunch of emails that people had sent. It is slow going because she isn't use to using a laptop and her placement of hands and fingers causes the screen to do crazy things. The dang things are so sensitive!
That's all for now. Have a great night, everyone.
Clydene
Now, as you can imagine, this was all a bit shocking to me? I thought, "did she have a gender identity crisis when she was little?" "Why would she want to be a boy?" Well, her reason was a bit of a surprise too, especially since I was so much younger than her that this would not come into play. She wanted to be a boy because she wanted to be a baseball player! I have been planning on writing about this for a few days, but an email she got from her childhood friend reminded me that I hadn't done it. Trish wrote "what happened to my friend who wanted to be a southpaw pitcher for the Redsox?" (or something to that affect). Thanks for the reminder, Trish.
Well, now that I am done with my little story, here is your "Lita update." Not much new to report. Lita is feeling about the same as she has been for the last couple of weeks. She is eating well, and the only problems she has been experiencing have to do with the fluid build-up, and last night she had a slight back ache. The new medication for the sleeping has been helping. Today she got through a bunch of emails that people had sent. It is slow going because she isn't use to using a laptop and her placement of hands and fingers causes the screen to do crazy things. The dang things are so sensitive!
That's all for now. Have a great night, everyone.
Clydene
Monday, February 1, 2010
Lita has Email
Sorry it has been a few days since I have posted. The time just seemed to get away from me. Lita is doing well other than trouble sleeping and dealing with fluid retention. It is a good thing that they left the tap in so she can be drained. On Friday they removed about 2 liters and she is ready for it again. Evidently the nurse said that part of the reason for that is that she is eating and drinking more.
This weekend Lita was up and about quite a bit and doing more for herself and playing games with the family. As a matter of fact, she kicked my butt in Scrabble last night. She and my husband made it down to the wire with Lita inching him out by 3 or 4 points thanks to going out first!
For those of us who know Lita well, this is the way she likes it. To be able to make herself a little snack, get things from her room without having to ask, yada yada, gives her a little independence. As we spoke yesterday, I realized that she would probably like to be able to send and read her own emails instead of waiting for me to get home. So we set up an email address where you can correspond directly with her. It is litamattson@yahoo.com. Also, you can continue to add comments to this blog - it is good for everyone to see what we all write and to feel the love.
That is it for now.
Clydene
This weekend Lita was up and about quite a bit and doing more for herself and playing games with the family. As a matter of fact, she kicked my butt in Scrabble last night. She and my husband made it down to the wire with Lita inching him out by 3 or 4 points thanks to going out first!
For those of us who know Lita well, this is the way she likes it. To be able to make herself a little snack, get things from her room without having to ask, yada yada, gives her a little independence. As we spoke yesterday, I realized that she would probably like to be able to send and read her own emails instead of waiting for me to get home. So we set up an email address where you can correspond directly with her. It is litamattson@yahoo.com. Also, you can continue to add comments to this blog - it is good for everyone to see what we all write and to feel the love.
That is it for now.
Clydene
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
