My mom was a little more alert when my dad and I arrived a few hours ago.  She was in bed.  Her upper body was raised. 

Expectations are different now.  My mom is not the same person she was last year.  Alzheimer’s takes a toll.  Adding an infection to that made it worse.

As much as we try to be involved we are often in the dark.  Care is chopped into little pieces each administered by a different professional. If there is one person who knows everything we haven’t meet her!

My mom is being discharged this afternoon.  She is not ready to go home.  She will be transported to a rehab facility nearby with the hope she can be strengthened and trained to assist in her own care. 

She doesn’t have to do much. Standing is a goal. After rehab she’ll return home, but with assistance.

This is as much a strain on my father as my mom.  He has dedicated himself to her,  but it’s taking a toll.  Home aides will allow him to leave the house from time-to-time.  Right now he is isolated.

My plan is to return to Connecticut tomorrow and work Thursday.  When my mom returns home my sister will come down to help.

Over the past few days many of you have sent regards and advice.  I have been overwhelmed,  but have read every one.  Though I haven’t been able to personally respond I have taken advantage of your guidance. It’s been very helpful. My family thanks you for your help and sympathy.

This journey isn’t finished. My mom will have to buy in to the rehab which will be  difficult and physically taxing to a woman who is now physically weak.

Every day my mom is asked what day it is and where she is.  I’m not sure I could answer those questions today.

It looks like we spring my mom tomorrow.  Yesterday my dad and I visited a rehab facility.  Today I went to another.

The plan is for her to leave here,  head to rehab, then in a few weeks head home.

We are such naifs. There is so much we don’t know.  The hospital has provided some guidance which has been helpful.  It may be our first time at the rodeo,  but not theirs.

Of course my mom doesn’t want to feel abandoned.  My dad can spend as much time with her as he wants including meals.

When I came back to the hospital my mom was sitting in a chair.  That’s her first time out of bed since my arrival.  It’s a big deal.

The are no good answers,  but at least right now they don’t look as bad as they did a few days ago.

We’re back in the hospital.  I hope my mom slept well. I didn’t.  My guess is my father didn’t either.

A small city of ancillary offices has grown around this hospital. There are physicians offices of every type, mostly in small standalone buildings. Law offices too.  It’s the medical-industrial complex!

I am confused by our hospital system.  There are volunteers all over this place.  At the same time the CEO makes more than $2 million a year. That seems anti-intuitive at best.

My mom doesn’t want to be here.  I can’t blame her.  Who would?

Her IVs are off.  She is lying in bed waiting. No one’s sure what she’s waiting for.  I am not sure what the plans are for her release.

We need to speak to the physician’s assistant to understand more about what’s going on over the short term.

My dad and I visited a rehab facility yesterday.  That seems the likely next step. She’s not ready to come directly home.

We are all in uncharted territory.  Neither my dad nor I know what choices we’ll be given much less the decisions we’ll make.

Growing old is no fun.

My mom’s room is on the third floor of a community hospital.  She is, as they say, resting comfortably.  She is awake and reasonably alert. She wants  to know when she can go home.

At a certain point in life it’s difficult to separate the impacts.  Did my mom’s swoon to the floor have to do with the infection they’ve found or Alzheimer’s or something we don’t know?

We certainly don’t know what to do when she’s discharged.  I’ve asked to speak to someone in social services.

There’s no training for this type of thing.  There are no easy answers.  Its especially tough on my dad.

I am glad to see my mother, but especially on Mother’s Day this isn’t where she or I want to be.

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, but it wasn’t until I saw Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone Magazine on CNN earlier today that I felt motivated. “I don’t know any campaign journalists out there who thinks that Romney has a legitimate chance to win. And I’m not making a value judgment [...]

Seriously, I was totally prepared to write an entry making fun of Chuck. Can I call him Chuck? No? OK, I was prepared to make fun of Prince Charles who stood before his subjects and the chromakey to deliver the weather for Scotland on the BBC. Wow! He sounds exactly like Prince Charles should sound. [...]