What a Difference!

I'm still amazed at what a big difference a pacemaker has made in my Mom's energy levels! She has gone from the "old lady" Mom that I constantly worried about to a younger version of herself. It's really made a great difference.

Mom is doing well. We went to Rush for the first follow-up pacemaker appointment last week. They check Mom's scar and deemed that it's closing up and healing just fine. No infection. Halleluiah! Mom has strict orders to stay away from the catbox and the basement in order to avoid contamination. As you'll recall, our basement flooded recently and I'm worried that she will touch something and get bacteria on her scar. So, she is forbidden to do any more laundry. Those are now my chores (additional!).

We'll return to Rush for a second follow-up visit in which they will test the pacemaker to ensure it is functioning properly for Mom. That appointment is at the beginning of October. They are also supposed to show her how to use the phone to report in or test the pacemaker. That should be interesting.

Mom's coumadin levels have returned to normal. We had to make a few trips to Rush as her levels were slow to build back up again after being off coumadin for her tooth extraction and pacemaker procedure. Now, however, things are normal.

The day we went to Rush for her pacemaker follow-up appointment, we also stopped at the other building to have her coumadin levels checked. There was a fire drill that day (or someone pulled the alarm) and we had to evacuate the building and stand outside for about 20 minutes. Unfortunately, the clinic is on the 5th floor, so Mom (and LOTS of other mobility challenged patients!) had to walk down 5 flights of stairs to evacuate the building. If there would have been a real fire, we might have burned! But Mom did a pretty good job of navigating the stairs while others were trying to pass her and evacuate. I'm proud that she didn't panic or get frustrated. She just kept on going and did what she had to do.

What a good lesson I learned that day - no matter what... just keep moving forward and do what needs to be done. Mom is still teaching me every day!

Pacemaker Procedure - A Week Ago

Mom's pacemaker procedure was a week ago and she is doing just great! She really has more energy! She also appears to be steadier on her feet, so her walking has improved. I still think that she should use a cane, but at least she is not wobbling around like a drunken sailor anymore.

Now that Mom feels more confident leaving the house, we have been walking just a bit every day. We haven't let her go anywhere unattended yet, so I have been her escort. Today, she had a hair appointment (finally!), so I walked the 3 blocks with her. Unfortunately, it was drizzling a bit, so Mom had to carry an umbrella. I am still carrying her purse. I am using the wi-fi at the Chicago Public Library across the street from Gilmart while she is at the hair dresser. I will meet her at Gilmart shortly and then we'll walk home. It's all good. Mom gets her hair done and feels better about herself, she gets some walking in, she sees her friends at Gilmart... and then she will attend the Senior Citizen meeting this afternoon. Her friend Alfrieda is picking her up so that they can arrive together. Mom should have loads of gossip to tell me later today. ;-)

Mom seems so much younger than before her surgery! It's just amazing what the proper heartbeat can do for a person. I think her body is even functioning better. For example, her kidneys seem to be functioning better as she is urinating every few hours rather than every 6 hours as she did previously. Seems like a little thing, but I know that it's contributing to her overall health.

Mom has a follow-up appointment with the cardiology department at Rush Medical Center on Thursday, September 9th. Hopefully, they will give her the "all good" signal and then we can stop acting as her bodyguards. Truthfully, I think that Mom likes the attention she gets when she has us as escorts/bodyguards. Life is good.

Mom is Recuperating

Mom had surgery 4 days ago and she is recovering quite well. At first, Mom just wanted to stay in the house. She didn't even want to go outside to the garden. This surprised me a bit, but I figured that I'd leave it alone. However, when she started down the same path the next day, I asked her to go out to the garden with me. We were only out for about 10 minutes and we picked a few tomatoes. She is careful not to carry much weight on her left arm, so she had me bring the tomatoes inside.

I think this short outing gave Mom a bit of confidence. She then asked me if I would walk to Gilmart with her. On the way, she wanted to stop at her friend's house to visit. We spent about 15 minutes there and then made our way to Gilmart. Mom got to also see and visit with a few friends during this time. Additionally, she got her lottery "fix"... and won $60 in the process!

Mom decided to postpone her hair appointment until Saturday. Then, when Saturday arrived, again postponed the appointment to next Thursday.

And the big decision of the week: No Bingo for Mom on Friday. Instead, she stayed home and took her first allowed shower since surgery. She had to wash her incision with soap and water and then pat it dry. It's starting to itch a bit and I think that's a good sign.

Mom needed some help drying herself off and getting dressed. She appears to be "babying" her left arm a bit. I seem to always assist her with getting up off the couch, etc.

This worries me just a bit, especially since her incision looks a bit red to me. However, Mom is taking her antibiotics faithfully.

My sister (a nurse) stopped by today and looked at the incision. She says that it is healing nicely. This is a good thing!

Post-Surgery Day 2

Mom came home from the hospital yesterday about noon and took it easy for the rest of the day. I "made her" take some Tylenol for any pain she might have, but she insists that she is not really in any pain. The Tylenol helped her to sleep and other than waking during the night to urinate, she slept fairly well.

It's now day 2 and Mom says that there is no pain other than some tenderness near the incision site. This is probably to be expected. Mom had me inspect the incision site this morning for any signs of infection. I'm happy to report that there are none.

Mom is really doing well. She is definitely taking it easy... just watching TV, walking a bit from room to room, eating normal meals, etc. However, she didn't go outside again today. Not even to pick tomatoes!

Tomorrow will be the tell-all; it's Bingo day. Mom has a hair appointment in the morning and I have promised that I'd go with her to the salon and either wait for her or come back to pick her up. She is not yet sure if she will venture out to get her hair done. I know that she is contemplating going to Bingo, however. She has told me that she doesn't really want to go, but just might since she'll have lots to talk about. We'll see what she decides tomorrow.

The biggest sign (at least for me) that Mom is feeling more like herself is that she is actually talking on the phone and enjoying it. In recent times (many months or so), Mom has avoided the phone. She just didn't want to talk. Since her surgery, she is VERY talkative. This is the Mom that I know and love. My Mom is a talker. When I observe her "gossiping" on the phone, my heart is filled with gladness. It appears that my Mother is back to herself again. Thank you, Doctor T!

Mom Has Been Discharged from the Hospital

Mom was discharged from the hospital today. It's unbelievable to think that an 83 year old woman had pacemaker surgery yesterday and is back in her own home today. She is doing great!

Mom had a chest x-ray this morning and the doctor told her that everything was working just fine. Her pacemaker is set between 70 and 115 beats per minute. Therefore, if she "exercises" (read that as walks to Gilmart), the pacemaker will accommodate that. She says that she does feel a difference. My sister says that since she is recovering from surgery, she may not feel much of a difference just yet, but she will as she heals.

The pacemaker was inserted just under her collarbone. Mom has a pretty nasty scar at the moment. It's 2-3 inches in length and is pretty red. There are no stitches. Apparently, they "glued" it together... whatever that means in medical terms. We will diligently watch for signs of infection. And Mom will take her antibiotics faithfully for 3 days. Picture of incision at the end... do not view if you are squeamish.

Mom has a list of instructions to follow. She cannot raise her left arm above her head for 8 weeks. She cannot lift more than 10 lbs for 8 weeks. She can no longer go through metal detectors and cannot even have the hand wand used on her. She has a special card for her wallet that gives her membership into a special club for pacemaker wearers in order for her to avoid these things. She will not have to be hand searched if she travels.

She does not have to avoid microwaves, computers, cell phones, etc. as pacemakers wearers did in the past. She is supposed to use the cell phone on her right side rather than her left, but other than that, there are no restrictions with electronic equipment. It's pretty interesting what progress is made in a decade or two.

Mom is feeling well and is taking phone calls. We have not determined if she'll go to Bingo on Friday yet, but we'll take every day as it comes.

Again, thank you all for your positive thoughts and prayers. We appreciate it!

Here's that picture of Mom's incision. Avoid if you are squeamish.

Pacemaker Procedure - Another Success!

Mom feels like a new woman! An hour after her pacemaker procedure, she looks better and has more energy than I've observed in the past two years. Seriously, she seems like a different (younger!) version of herself.

This morning, she was kind of whiny and complaining like an "old woman". A few hours later, post surgery, she is laughing, talking, eating, joking, and smiling like she doesn't have a care in the world. It's so good to see her like this! This is the Mom that I know and love. I am now fully convinced that Dr. T is God's angel representative on this earth.

We arrived at Rush Medical Center at 6:30am and started the check-in process. We were then escorted to the Ambulatory Center for pre-surgical prep. Mom changed into a robe and slippers and had her blood pressure taken and had some blood drawn. She is such a trooper and didn't complain at all. Well, except when they told her that she had to take all her clothes off... including her underwear. Apparently, Mom's modesty was affronted. ;-) We then proceeded to a family waiting room until it was Mom's turn to head into surgery. It was just a few moments before she was climbing into her wheel chair to head to surgery. She was so anxious to get into the wheel chair that she almost forgot to hug and kiss us! She just didn't think about it. I guess she knew that she had no reason to say goodbye to her daughters.

My sister and I went to the cafeteria and had breakfast and then headed to the waiting room (which was packed, by the way) to wait on news of our Mother. Dr. T called us at about 9:45am to let us know that the surgery was over, it went well, the pacemaker was working well, and that they were stitching her up and would send her to Recovery for about an hour before assigning a room for the night. We got the call that she was in her room at about 11:15am. When we arrived at her room, she was doing so well! If I didn't know that she had surgery that morning, I would have never guessed. She is just such a new woman!

Mom will stay in bed for 4 hours, then is allowed to walk around, etc. She will have a chest xray tomorrow and then will be released.

She is already arguing with us. She doesn't want to understand that there is a specific procedure to get her back to "normal" for her Coumadin levels. She is telling all of us what dosage of pill she should take. Yes, this is the Frances we all know and love. She is baaaaaaaaaaccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkk!

Dental Procedure - A Success

Mom had her tooth extracted this morning. Apparently, it was pretty infected and her dentist had to do some "digging around" to get all of the infection. (UGH No wonder I "hate" the dentist!) She was a model patient and we left the dentist's office armed with a pack of gauze, a prescription for amoxicillan and a list of instructions.

Mom is pretty numbed up, so we went to the drug store to fill her antibiotic prescription and pick up another that she had ordered yesterday. I was impressed that the pharmacist asked about her warfarin/coumadin and asked questions about her tooth extraction. It's good to have everyone working together to ensure that your meds are actually working for you rather than against you!

The extraction site is still bleeding a bit, so Mom is relaxing right now. So far, she is not in any pain. However, I don't think she'll be able to eat very much today. I bought some protein shakes so that she'd get some nutrients, especially since she cannot eat past midnight tonight in preparation for tomorrow's procedure.

Seeing my Mom a bit "under the weather" or "out of sorts" today after her tooth extraction gives me a weird feeling. I guess I don't like seeing my Mother not being her active self. It's nonsensical, I know. There is nothing to fear at this point.

Many thanks to all of you for your well wishes and prayers. We appreciate it more than you could ever know!

Final Preparations

We're in final countdown mode now. Mom had taken her last dose of Coumadin on Wednesday night. I washed the pajamas and clothes that Mom wants to take to the hospital for her overnight (hopefully!) stay. Both appointments have been confirmed. We're ready!

Over the past few weeks, Mom has mentioned several times that she should postpone her surgery. Every time something comes up in the family (a small issue, perhaps), she uses this as a reason to postpone the inevitable. However, A and I just say something like "No, you have to have your surgery because we need you now more than ever." This usually does the trick. I have lost count how many times I have had to have this conversation with Mom... at least a dozen times! We are not letting her get cold feet.

Mom is having part 1 of her scheduled procedure tomorrow (Monday). She is headed to the dentist for a 9am appointment to get a tooth extracted. I am hopeful that she will not be in too much pain from the extraction. I'm sure the dentist will give us a prescription in case the pain gets bad, but I already know that Mom will not take anything stronger than a Tylenol (I mean the GENERIC version we finally talked her into!). It'll be good to have the prescription anyway as a backup plan.

Mom has planned to have a substantial breakfast in case she can't chew much later on. She also wants to pick up a milkshake on the way home for the dentist. She has the most interesting thought processes! I may have to pick up some "Ensure" or "Slimfast" for her to drink as well. At least those are meal replacements.

Part 2 of the scheduled procedures is on Tuesday at 8am. That's when we head to the hospital for the pacemaker procedure. We will check in at 6:30am at Rush Medical Center. Dr. T begins his work at 8am. A has taken the day off from work, so we will wait together during the procedure and see Mom when she has a new heart rate. I'm excited for her!

I know that it's not her time to leave us yet. However, your prayers are still wanted and welcomed. I will update this blog daily this week.

Fingers crossed!

Our Garden's Bounty!

Like most Chicagoan's (those actually living within the city's boundaries), we have a small backyard. Therefore, our garden plot is pretty small. It's dimensions are approximately 14'x4'. We had good luck with green peppers and tomatoes last year, so I planted those again this year. I planted in early June as I wanted to wait until the days were warmer and the ground wasn't frozen. My expectation was that we'd have some produce around the end of July.

Last year, I got seedlings from Lowe's Garden Center. They were nice, sturdy plants and had a good yield. This year, Adrienne recommended that I check out the garden center at Walmart. The seedlings looked pretty sturdy and they were priced really well. I couldn't resist expanding our tomato crop, so this year I got Early Girls in addition to Big Boys and Better Boys. I went a bit "crazy" and got 2 dozen more seedlings than last year. When I planted the seedlings, they were all in neat rows spaced exactly 6 inches apart. Yes, I understand just how "anal retentive" I am. I call it "organized". I pointed out how beautifully the garden was planted to A. She said "You know that the plants grow, don't you?" Yes... thank you... I didn't know that. ha ha You can tell that we are sisters, can't you?

The Big Boys and Better Boys have grown to similar sizes as last year. A few feet high, not spreading out too much, you can still see the rows I planted. However, the Early Girls (of which I got a LOT), have exceeded my growth expectations. They are all between 4 and 5 feet tall! They are growing wildly and have so many tomatoes on them! I just shake my head when I go out to the garden.



The green peppers, on the other hand, were a disappointment until about a week ago. There were no peppers on the plants, other than maybe 1 or 2. I was actually going to pull them all out and perhaps plant a Fall harvested crop of squash or something. Good thing I didn't because I now have peppers everywhere! We harvested 6 of them the other day and I made stuffed peppers for dinner last night.

Mom grew up on a farm. She usually takes a passing interest in my garden. That is, until it starts to yield. She LOVES eating tomatoes fresh from the garden! When we got our first reddish tomato (when they just start to turn red), she was so excited. Now, she goes into the garden every day and reports on the progress of the tomatoes. And, she is picking my tomatoes before they are ready! Yes, my Mother likes to have tomatoes on our kitchen windowsill. She likes to see the progress they make every day. And she examines them regularly and eats them the moment they are ready. We have only had a couple of tomatoes that have been ready to eat, but they were sure tasty! Mom is anxiously awaiting more fresh tomatoes so that she can eat them daily.




Since Mom enjoy the yield from my garden so much, how can I deny her the joy of picking the tomatoes (early or not) and watching them ripen? It's such a small pleasure. Why would I even complain?

A Piece of History... Lost!

Mom, A and I went to Kim's wedding shower last weekend. It was really great for the 3 of us to do something together. We got to see several of our female relatives (you know how it is with wedding stuff... mainly females invited!) and catch up with people we haven't seen for years.

The shower was at the Seven Bridges Golf Club in Woodridge, so the atmosphere was tranquil and beautiful. There were appetizers on the veranda and an awesome champagne punch served with it. We played a couple of games and I even won a prize for a game in which you had to identify romantic couples. I got 21/25 right. Yes, I am competitive!

Kim got a lot of wonderful gifts and the afternoon was an all around wonderful time. That is, until we were on the way home. Mom started acting strangely during the drive home. She was digging in her purse constantly. We thought she was looking for toll money. Adrienne even commented on it. She just kept digging and digging and then got kind of quiet. We thought she was tired. Once we got home, she kept it up and even emptied out the bag with cookies we took home from the shower. I just let her go for it and figured that she'd let me know what was up eventually.

In retrospect, Adrienne and I probably should have pressed Mom earlier for an answer as to why she was digging in her purse. Things many have turned out differently. However, we can't change the past, we can only move forward. Having said that, I am so heartsick about what happened that it has taken me an entire week to be able to blog about it. Here it is:

Mom lost her engagement ring at the shower. The ring my father gave her 50 years ago. A ring that meant a great deal to Mom. LOADS of sentimental value.

Mom is just sick about it. She was not eating very well previously and had dropped a few pounds. Therefore, the ring was loose on her pinkie finger. She had taken the ring off a couple of years ago because it was too tight on her ring finger. She only pulls it out and wears it occasionally on her pinkie. Usually, there is no problem with this. However, this time it was quite loose. Mom noted this, but decided to wear it anyway knowing that she'd be really careful of it.

Of course, the worst possible thing happened. Mom lost her ring.

I immediately called Kim's mom and asked if anyone had found the ring. She gave me the phone number of the golf club and I called there, spoke to the F&B manager (who was in the room with us during the shower). He looked all over the room, in the vacuum cleaner bag, etc. No luck. The ring is gone.

I am still hoping that someone picked it up and is having such guilt over it that they will somehow return it to us. I know that is naive of me, but I believe there are still good people in the world. How could anyone live with themselves if they found and kept a 50 year old ring belonging to an 83 year old widow?

Yes, Mom is having to deal with the consequences of her actions. Is this just a coincidence? Or is it the start of more to come?

Either way, we are all heartsick over this. Maybe St. Jude can help us. Isn't he the saint of impossible causes????????