I've done what I could

Whew!  Busy week that flew by.  Ameranth came home bearing gifts on Sunday (not really gifts, more like boxes of crap belongings that we are once again storing for her) and we shopped busily for two days. Wednesday we drove down to RI so she could visit her grandparents for "what might be the last time". What? When did my mother get so melodramatic? I'm not sure if she thinks she might not be around or if Ameranth will get lost somewhere in the desert. (She was really joking, folks. I think)

We were able to check out the aftermath of the flooding from the record rainfall two weeks ago.  Here's a picture of my parent's basement, everything except the Cliquot box and the rocker are now in a dumpster out back.

And the water flowing out the walkout basement door.

My father's getting the hang of digital photography, resizing and such. They were lucky to 'only' have 2 or 3 inches- my sister lives next door (just to the left in the picture above) and she had 26 inches in her basement! She still has a pond out back, which of course seeps back into her cellar as she pumps the water out. 

Anyway, my mother had drawers full of material, which she was going to throw out. Of course, I had to rescue it, so I ended up bringing more crap bags of goodies home. As long as they had the dumpster there, Ma decided to go through other closets and I now possess a box of assorted wrapping paper, bows and labels, some antique tin boxes filled with buttons, and games that were in the cabinet that I had originally planned on taking. J doesn't know yet that I didn't have room for the antique Bissell carpet sweeper. Maybe next trip, dear.

Friday I dropped Ameranth in Maynard MA and Sectaurs and his ladyfriend are driving her to Albany today to start her hike. It's snowing today in Maine, I hope the storm has ended in NY already.  Today's walk is just 5 miles (ha, 'just') and she does have a place to stay tonight. Anna is not happy about wearing her pack, in fact, whenever it was picked up she tucked her ears back and ran to hide. Poor dog, you're in for a shock.

                                  Relaxing at Grandma's house.

We spent this morning unloading the crap stuff Ameranth hadn't been able to fit in her car and finding room to store all of the boxes. Just undid all of the clearing out we've done lately. I do get to use her printer/scanner which will make life easier. The one we have networked through J's computer doesn't always like me and usually gets hung up on last page of a printing job. Plus, to scan photos I had to walk over, place the picture, use J's computer to scan and save, then transfer it to mine. A pain in the neck.

So, now we wait to get updates, hopefully daily and pretend that she is not out hiking 225+ miles across NY.  Good luck. We love you and hope you have a great time. 

***Just in- update from Sectaurs with picture of the departure.

A nice week

Last week was my first not working, and I got used to it quickly. I expected to think more about what I was missing, but that didn't happen. I easily changed to sleeping earlier, and getting up between 7 & 8. It helped that it was sunny a lot of the time. I love sun.

I went to RI for a quick visit to my parents, and was pleased to see both them looking well. Ma is wearing a heart monitor for 30 days, and it rings a dozen or so times a day. She doesn't feel any fluttering though, and apparently the monitor doesn't react when she does feel it. Although she has had no bigger episodes since being hooked up. Technology is amazing. After calling, she holds the phone over the monitor and the info stored is transmitted to the recording company, then to the doctor.

I looked through some old photos and brought some home to scan of my grandparents and my great-grands. My mother's grandparents both emigrated from Sweden and met in the US. Imagine leaving home in your teens, moving to a foreign country as a servant, and never returning. I barely remember her, a little round lady in black, very scary, but Grandpa O. lived to 87, and was a gentle man, who used snuff. I have their dresser now, with little drawers that lock with keys and a tall mirror in the middle.

I'm tired and I want to go to bed

I'm tired today.

Yesterday was a tense day, after a call in the morning that my mother had been taken to the hospital with a suspected heart attack. Good news later, no heart attack, "just" atrial fibrillation(that her meds didn't take care of) and she was staying in overnight, much to her disgust.

Within an hour of the first call, my shoulder and neck tightened up to the point where I couldn't turn my head. Those muscles are always tight anyway, due to my fibromyalgia, and I guess I exceeded my tension limit. A Flexiril helped some and I made it off to work, after talking to Grandma once she was settled in a room.

My father just turned 75, and my mother will be 75 at the end of April. They do fine on their own, now that we have convinced them they shouldn't go up on the shed roof to fix it anymore. I kid you not. They were up there a few years ago.

My mother has osteoporosis, COPD and fibro, and my dad has had several strokes, leaving him with no peripheral vision. He can see out the bottom of one eye, and the top of the other, and Ma says that she probably should start doing the driving! Gee, ya think?

Ma hates to make a fuss. So, when she woke up with the heart fluttering, and a pain, she took her pills as directed, and waited. The fluttering stopped but the pain was still there. So, they call my sister, who lives next door(and is a CNA) to see if she thinks they should go to the hospital. Of course, she says yes, and asks if they want her to drive them? Because you don't call 911, if you're not sure you might be dying! I think the only time 911 was called was when Ma tripped over the dog, and broke her hip. And that was only because she couldn't get up herself.

No, Grandpa Bob will drive, he of the segmented vision, and he waits while Ma takes a quick shower. They make the half hour trip and find the ER empty so got looked at right away. I wonder if it had been crowded, would they have sat quietly until it was their turn, instead of saying hey,possible heart attack here!

My three sisters live in R.I. and they are great at letting us know when something like this happens. #5 called me in the morning, #4 (the CNA) called in the afternoon to let me know Ma was in her room,etc, and #3(who is an RN) wrote an update that night for the family email list. {Just for completeness, my brother is # 2, in Texas and I am the oldest}.

My father naturally has other things on his mind, but also feels that he will update us when he gets home, after an incident is all over. However, he also writes a daily email and if that's missing we know something's up. We usually give him until noon, assuming an appointment of some sort delayed him, but if we don't get anything then, one of my sisters gets a call. If it's computer trouble, then a sister will send an email to everyone letting us know he's offline.

The dogs are reminding me it's time for their walk, so I better get going.