Pages

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Rambling thoughts

Yesterday my elderly Mom had a stent put in her femoral artery. According to my SIL, she was attentive and seemed to process what the doctor said and the follow up medication instructions. I talked to Mom about 30 minutes ago and the drugstore had delivered a prescription earlier this morning. She didn't recognize the doctor's name or know why she got the medicine which she thought she shouldn't take. I guess they didn't send written instructions home with her although she has been diagnosed with dementia that has pretty much destroyed her short term memory. I did get her to call my SIL to check and see if she remembered the instructions and we think all has been sorted out and she will take the medication. So frustrating - what would she do if no one was checking in on her and making sure she remembered the important things? Why do doctors not recognize the need for clear written instructions? It is also worrisome in the what awaits me realm.

Which leads me to my new volunteer activity. I am going to be a senior mentor for a first year medical student (other students involved are studying nursing, physical therapy, etc.). We have topics to cover but the whole point is for these doctors in training to get some perspective on how to more effectively treat older patients. Most of my input will be about my Mom's experiences and ours as her support system I imagine. It should be interesting. We are in catch up mode as her original mentor withdrew from the program.The topics to cover are:
- Personal History/Background
- Daily Diary
- Nutrition
- Health Systems-Medicare, Social Security, Aging Economics
- Friendship
- Volunteering
- Function and Relation to Health
- Values
- Bucket List
- Health Care Interactions with Older Adults

I checked off all my library related to do's this morning and came home with some interesting books. One of the advantages of sorting through the donated books is finding ones I've never heard of yet look interesting. I bring them home to read and then take them back for the next sale. Today's bonus books are:

 














I'm still working on these that I brought home a couple of weeks ago.
 
Lastly, today's library check outs.

 
 
I'm sticking to eating at home and am in the process of cooking everything needed to make a Nicoise salad for tonight - green beans, potatoes, eggs - in turn using one pot. I was thinking about what to make to take to the neighborhood potluck on Sunday evening and as usual my mind wandered to desserts. I'm being good though and making a green salad with oranges, dried cranberries, celery, walnuts and goat cheese. There will be plenty of desserts I'm sure LOL.

11 comments:

  1. So jealous. Have a library sale next week and I cannot wait!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm always working our sales but the happiness of the book loving buyers is wonderful to see. Hope you find lots of good ones.

      Delete
  2. I volunteer at my local public library and sort the donations for the book sale, as well! It's kismet that I found your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Remarkable Creatures is one of my favorite historical fiction books. We did well at our FOL sale in October , then we got rid of all the old stuff that we'd had forever. So were starting fresh ,with hopefully lots of new stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to hear the book is good! Our next sale is Feb 8th so we are still stocking up. There are so many libraries in the system that if we have anything good left over we just send it to another branch for their sale. Usually we sell almost everything except mysteries and fiction.

      Delete
  4. Looks like you're all set for reading for the next while! I read one of the books in your photo, My Year of Meats, which I would recommend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to hear it was good - it was donated and I grabbed it to read before putting it in the sale. It is amazing how quickly I go through stacks of books as I don't read any that I don't find engaging. One has already dropped out LOL.

      Delete
  5. Juhli, it makes my heart happy that you are such an avid library supporter. As a librarian in public libraries for 40 years, I think what would we have done without our Friends of the Library. This time of year, I do a little parody of "A Christmas Carol" that is all about libraries so watch for it. Or I can send it to you when the time comes. And I understand what you are going through with your Mom. I've been there. Rosy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do love the library and it started when I was about 8 and my Mom took us every two weeks to check out as many books as we wanted. Thanks for the compassion about my Mom. It is just so hard to figure out what she has lost as it is very specific to part of her brain (vascular dementia in the early stage) so in many ways she is fine.

      Delete
  6. I'm sorry to hear about your Mom and what you're all going through - it must be very hard for you all.

    ReplyDelete

Thriving Thursday Week 13 - Little things edition

Have you heard about the National Association of Realtors settlement agreement related to home sellers having to pay the buyer’s agents comm...