Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is Mom's 82nd birthday.  It's been a rough Mom's birthday week for me!  For one reason, for the obvious reason, it's so sad that Mom turned 82 today and she doesn't even know it and there was no celebration for her.  I just feel meloncholy about it. 

Manuel and I told her "Happy Birthday" all day long to remind her.  Manuel asked her how old she was.  Each time she was a different age, from 31 to some rambling words.  That kind of made her happy.  Her brother, my Uncle Herman and Aunt Betty called and we did a speaker chat.  She did okay with that for about 30 seconds.  It was good.

The other reason is that it's been a rough week is because my body has been beat up!  This week, I came into Mom's room to find her on the floor.  She must have fallen out of her bed.  Manuel checks on her when he gets up early in the morning so I know she hadn't been there for too long, but it's still disheartening to know she had fallen down and couldn't get up.  I didn't know where or how to start to get her up, but once I did, I realized I hurt my back.

A couple of days later, I was getting Mom out of bed.  I have to physically sit her up and stand her up from bed.  This time, for some reason, her legs gave out and she went down to the floor.  I was holding her so she didn't fall.  I more or less had to set her down.  I tried to get her back up on the bed but just couldn't muscle it.  Manuel had just left to run some errands.  Thank God Ryan was here, I was able to get him up and he helped me get her off the floor and I was able to continue to prepare her for the day.  But, again, I strained my back as she went down.

Then this morning, as I do every morning, I was cleaning her up in the bathroom.  As always, she holds onto the towel rack to help her stand while I clean her, but she fights me every step of the way.  As I was bent over cleaning her she let go of the rack and landed on my neck and really tweaked me.  The pain has been traveling down my right side all day.  I'm stiff and sore.

I'm desparately looking for some live-in help.  I still believe I am doing a better job than a home would do.  But, I do need some help....and I do need a life!  I want to be able to go out to dinner without a major production in getting a sitter.  I want to be able to go away for a weekend without litterally making my ulcer bleed because I can't find help for a day or two.  I've been doing this a long time....over 7 years.  It has certainly taken a toll on my life. 

Wish me "luck" in my search for a reliable live-in. :)

(18 days)