Author: rvingwithapurpose

Monday, March 5, 2018

Today was a cloudy, rainy, and cooler day. No pretty sunshine today. There was no really hard rain and sometimes it was just a mist but enough you needed a rain coat or umbrella most of the day.

We started our day by going to Walmart to purchase worms for Newdul. It was then on to visit with Aunt Jean at the assisted living in Trussville. She seemed to be doing fairly well with no real complaints. We went through her mail and paid her bills. Max cleaned Newdul’s terrarium and fed him some more worms. For those new to the blog, Newdul is Aunt Jean’s 48 year old box turtle that she raised from an egg. He is quite the hit at the assisted living. When other residents grandchildren come to visit they always want to come give Newdul worms.

Anyway, we had a good visit with Jean and were then on the way back to Oneonta to sign all the admission paperwork for Aunt Helen. Then there was a team meeting with the director of nursing, therapy director, and social worker. Therapy has started their initial assessment and begun designing the therapy care plan with a strong emphasis on balance and lower extremity strengthening while waiting for the clavicle to heal. Once the x-ray indicates adequate healing then they will begin working on shoulder mobility. Because of the two fold nature of the therapy, the length of stay for rehab will probably be considerably longer than the usual 21 days. We also had a nice long visit with Helen and went to the dining room with her. Today she read the ticket that comes with her tray each time. It has a note added “Do not put dessert on tray until after resident eats her meal because she will eat only sweets.” Today she nailed us and asked “Did you tell them that?” Guilty as charged. She wasn’t upset. We all just had a good laugh because she knows it is true. She is enjoying the food at rehab, especially the desserts. Today she ate well and then ate two desserts because one of her table mates gave her an extra dessert. Donna went by to see Helen this afternoon and called and gave us a good report. Thanks so much Donna. It was really hard to leave today knowing we are scheduled to be gone a month. We are trying so hard to not worry about Helen. We know God has got her and the entire situation. We just need to trust Him.

After leaving rehab we went back to Pine Mountain, hooked up the truck, jumped into Fred and headed to Tuscaloosa in short order. Tonight we are parked in Anne’s Mom’s driveway again. A quick setup, and then we took a nice walk on the greenway and just happened to walk to Cookout and had a great milkshake for supper. Tonight we feel we are starting to relax a little for the first time in many weeks. Know we are now relaxing because Max has been on the internet looking for doughnut shops in Baton Rouge and has found one within walking distance of where we will be parked. Now that is dangerous! So tomorrow there is work to be done in Tuscaloosa and then on to Baton Rouge for doughnuts, gumbo and yes, some work.

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Today was another beautiful day as predicted yesterday. Wow! They got it right two days in a row. And it was good. Chilly morning, 39 again, and didn’t seem quite as warm as yesterday this afternoon. It was a beautiful day to get our walking in again. We got about 5 miles today. Getting outside exercising is more than good for our heart. It is really good for our spirit. Last week we climbed steps in the hospital but that was about it. It was really good to get back outside. Very thankful for today.

Also thankful for our worship service and Sunday school class at Lester Memorial UMC today. Both were really good and since it was the first Sunday of the month we celebrated Holy Communion. Always a special time.

After Sunday school we returned to the rehab facility to visit with Helen. Donna and Barry were there as well. Helen seemed to be doing well. She was smiling and laughing and really appreciated Donna’s and Barry’s visit. We left Helen eating lunch with some of her new friends in the dining room. She makes friends easily and we hope she will end up enjoying her time at rehab. Therapy will start tomorrow so we will see how things go then. She did really well with therapy at the hospital and we hope that continues. So thankful that we have family and friends who will continue to visit and encourage her daily in our absence.

Other than a little nap and our walking, we spent the afternoon doing our final packing. We are now one step and ½ mile closer to Baton Rouge. After our final loading, we moved Fred to the end of our driveway, out to Aunt Helen’s house for a dry camping night. We decided it would be nice to just be able to get in Fred and head out after we finish some business for Aunt Jean and meet with the team at rehab to complete all of Helen’s paperwork. We are hoping it will be shortly after lunch but whenever it is, we will be ready to roll.

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Today was another beautiful sunny spring day in north Alabama. It has rained a lot this past week, the gray skies making our moods even gloomier. The low last night was a chilly 39 degrees but with the sunshine it warmed up quickly today. There was some scattered frost around but none at our house so no damage to plants yet. Our tulip magnolia still looks great. It will be in the 30s again tonight but tomorrow is supposed to be another beautiful day.

Sorry we left you hanging all week. It was a very difficult week for us on all sorts of levels. Aunt Helen has been such an independent lady all her life and she is not happy about needing assistance since she has basically loss the use of her right arm for 4-6 weeks and possibly 8-10 weeks while her clavicle fracture heals. She actually has required minimal pain medications, but the dementia just makes everything so difficult. She forgets she is not supposed to be moving the arm and that she must not take the splint off. Somehow she manages to get out of it if you look away for just a second. She forgets her clavicle is broken. She forgets where she is and on and on. She frequently is pitiful, homesick, and scared. So very sad. We were told by two doctors that she must go to a skilled nursing facility for rehab instead of back home. We spent every day this week at the hospital with her or visiting rehab facilities. By the time we got home in the evenings we were just to tired to prepare a blog post. Dealing with the hospital and insurance company all week was exhausting.

We were able to finally get Helen transferred to a rehab facility in Oneonta, 15 minutes from our house, last night. We were discharged at 5:15 just in time for the worst of the rush hour traffic. This center seems to be a good fit for Helen and we are very hopeful all will be okay. She, of course, only wants to go home NOW. Very difficult decisions lie ahead. We need your prayers for wisdom and courage.

The good news is that Helen had some good times today. She enjoyed Bible study this morning and really had a good time at a gospel singing this afternoon. She also got to meet the facility cat, Lucy. Lucy enjoyed Helen’s petting. Helen also seemed to enjoyed meeting the other people at rehab. Praying good times continue for her.

Good news for us is that it appears we are going to be able to get back to the mission work God has called us to with the help of some cousins and Helen’s church family that have volunteered to help care for her while we are gone. We know we are the hands and feet of God in all that we do, including helping care for Helen, but we also know we are called to be helping the victims of flooding last year in Baton Rouge. When all of Gods people answer their call all of God’s work gets done. Hopefully, by the middle of the week we will be in Baton Rouge preparing for the start of the NOMADS disaster rebuilding project there. But as always, we will remain flexible. Also hopefully, we will now be back to daily blogging and will soon have some more interesting and uplifting items and pictures to share with you.

Remember, we all need to be in prayer for our worship services tomorrow and that God prepare our hearts to receive the message He has for us. Hope you had a great week and a restful and enjoyable weekend.