Wednesday, February 2, 2005
Just Some Stuff - Clearing Out the Archives...
...I guess.
So, the violent verdict is, no night light. I rearranged and cleaned my mother's room yesterday so that I could install a night light. I'd mentioned it off and on throughout the last year. Sounded like a good idea to both of us even though neither of us are night light people. I don't know. One of those old people things.
This morning I noticed it was on the floor about two feet from the socket. "Yes," my mother explained after I woke her, "I had to get up in the middle of the night and rip it out of the socket. I couldn't sleep with that thing!" I know she did sleep with it on for some hours since I refilled her humidifier just before I went to be sometime before midnight but after 2300, as I recall, and the light was still on. Obviously the trouble the light causes my mother is not worth it since it gives her no added sense of security; which is to say, she feels secure enough to traipse across a very dark room in the middle of the night to rip a night light out of the wall.
When I was shopping today, because even I thought the light was a little too bright, I looked for softer colored bulbs and found a pink one. It doesn't glow pink, it glows a startling salmon. Mom nixed that bulb this evening. We also tried a glow-in-the-dark blue disc. "It's pretty," she pronounced, "but I can't see as that does much of anything. I don't need a night light," she insisted. "You don't use a night light!"
True, I don't. In fact, I used to have one of those blue discs on the wall behind me and the faint reflected light against my window pane drove me crazy and I ripped it out of the socket deep into the night soon after I'd plugged it in.
So, no night lights. For the time being.
I know exactly how I want the bathroom remodeled, now. After I get taxes together and get an idea of how much we owe, I think I'll start getting estimates, see how much remodeling we can do without a loan. I want to make our two bathrooms into one bath-room with two toilet closets; one toilet in the bath-room stall. The bath, actually shower room will be walk-in with a gently convex floor, drain in the middle. Rather large room with a divider so I can secrete myself from my mother's toilet. Although there will be a bench in her area and two sinks, one medium height, one low height, her toilet will also be there because, often through the first half of our bathing she has to eliminate without realizing it. Mom's bathing area will have a heat lamp in the ceiling so that it is always comfy for her. The rest of the area will contain my toilet closet which will open into my bedroom only and a separate vanity area for that toilet closet. The rest of the space will involve storage shelves and cabinets, some for linens. The bathroom will open out into the hall, as it already does, and into my bedroom.
Other plans I have are to knock out the wall separating my and my mother's bedrooms, turn the closet currently between them into an archway with storage shelves along the sides, expand the windows in both rooms, replace a small closet for her on the opposite side of her room...I think she will accept this easier than us sleeping in the same room. When she's been healing from a severe injury or debilitating illness she has appreciated my company in her room. Her preference is to sleep alone. I respect that. And I'm not looking forward to hearing the machines in her room even more clearly. My best sleep is done in silent pitch black. I can already hear them, though. I'm in the habit of adjusting to their drone every night. So, I'm not too worried.
The only other major remodeling that should probably be done, perhaps putting off the window expansions in the bedroom/s, is the raising of our living room floor. Maybe. I'm not sure how to handle this. She's better on steps than on ramps. And, raising the floor will involve, hmmm, well, I'm not sure where we'd put the baseboard heaters.
I think room a/c's, maybe one in each of our bedrooms, and an upgrading of the one we currently have in the living room will be fine. We have enough natural venting throughout both the winter and summer so that the air isn't ever stale. I definitely think we should blow some insulation around the house. And the roof could use a check, possibly partial replacement. The plumbing problem in the back turned out not to be our plumbing problem but the problem of some people above and to the northwest of us. We were getting their runoff. Weird. Anyway, that's good.
MCS liked Mom's numbers and took the news of exactly where Mom is, now, very well. She tends to agree with me that Mom probably has at least 5 years. I think we are both sure that she'll see 90. It'll surprise the shit out of all of us, including Mom, but we'll all be thrilled. Including Mom. She also likes the sound of this FNP. I've been very lucky with this clinic (as has Mom) in that even when people leave as did our physician, last November, they are replaced with extraordinary people who all agree that patients and medical advocates such as myself should be granted the dignity of autonomy of decision. When I learned that our other doctor had defected, even though I liked my working relationship with him (and it took some work), I had no qualms about seeing whomever we were assigned. This is the clinic, remember, who houses the owner/physician who leveled with my mother about her diabetes and gave her a choice about treatment, being very clear about the consequences of treatment vs non-treatment.
So I've successfully added yoghurt to her diet. She loves it. She'll probably most often have it for lunch. She remembered that she used to put wheat germ in it and wants me to get some of that. Great! I'm eating it because I know its good for me but the stuff with artificial sweetener is, whew, very, very sweet! My mother likes it, though, and it should be good for her. Another way to receive calcium and protein, too.
I'm feeling very mellow. Bills are pretty much paid. I'm missing one but sometimes the City of Prescott runs late so I'll check tomorrow. Taxes should be so easy to get together this year that I expect to have our package ready to go on Monday.
I'm doing cleaning, forgodssake! I don't know. I'm feeling good, again. Really good.
Later.
So, the violent verdict is, no night light. I rearranged and cleaned my mother's room yesterday so that I could install a night light. I'd mentioned it off and on throughout the last year. Sounded like a good idea to both of us even though neither of us are night light people. I don't know. One of those old people things.
This morning I noticed it was on the floor about two feet from the socket. "Yes," my mother explained after I woke her, "I had to get up in the middle of the night and rip it out of the socket. I couldn't sleep with that thing!" I know she did sleep with it on for some hours since I refilled her humidifier just before I went to be sometime before midnight but after 2300, as I recall, and the light was still on. Obviously the trouble the light causes my mother is not worth it since it gives her no added sense of security; which is to say, she feels secure enough to traipse across a very dark room in the middle of the night to rip a night light out of the wall.
When I was shopping today, because even I thought the light was a little too bright, I looked for softer colored bulbs and found a pink one. It doesn't glow pink, it glows a startling salmon. Mom nixed that bulb this evening. We also tried a glow-in-the-dark blue disc. "It's pretty," she pronounced, "but I can't see as that does much of anything. I don't need a night light," she insisted. "You don't use a night light!"
True, I don't. In fact, I used to have one of those blue discs on the wall behind me and the faint reflected light against my window pane drove me crazy and I ripped it out of the socket deep into the night soon after I'd plugged it in.
So, no night lights. For the time being.
I know exactly how I want the bathroom remodeled, now. After I get taxes together and get an idea of how much we owe, I think I'll start getting estimates, see how much remodeling we can do without a loan. I want to make our two bathrooms into one bath-room with two toilet closets; one toilet in the bath-room stall. The bath, actually shower room will be walk-in with a gently convex floor, drain in the middle. Rather large room with a divider so I can secrete myself from my mother's toilet. Although there will be a bench in her area and two sinks, one medium height, one low height, her toilet will also be there because, often through the first half of our bathing she has to eliminate without realizing it. Mom's bathing area will have a heat lamp in the ceiling so that it is always comfy for her. The rest of the area will contain my toilet closet which will open into my bedroom only and a separate vanity area for that toilet closet. The rest of the space will involve storage shelves and cabinets, some for linens. The bathroom will open out into the hall, as it already does, and into my bedroom.
Other plans I have are to knock out the wall separating my and my mother's bedrooms, turn the closet currently between them into an archway with storage shelves along the sides, expand the windows in both rooms, replace a small closet for her on the opposite side of her room...I think she will accept this easier than us sleeping in the same room. When she's been healing from a severe injury or debilitating illness she has appreciated my company in her room. Her preference is to sleep alone. I respect that. And I'm not looking forward to hearing the machines in her room even more clearly. My best sleep is done in silent pitch black. I can already hear them, though. I'm in the habit of adjusting to their drone every night. So, I'm not too worried.
The only other major remodeling that should probably be done, perhaps putting off the window expansions in the bedroom/s, is the raising of our living room floor. Maybe. I'm not sure how to handle this. She's better on steps than on ramps. And, raising the floor will involve, hmmm, well, I'm not sure where we'd put the baseboard heaters.
I think room a/c's, maybe one in each of our bedrooms, and an upgrading of the one we currently have in the living room will be fine. We have enough natural venting throughout both the winter and summer so that the air isn't ever stale. I definitely think we should blow some insulation around the house. And the roof could use a check, possibly partial replacement. The plumbing problem in the back turned out not to be our plumbing problem but the problem of some people above and to the northwest of us. We were getting their runoff. Weird. Anyway, that's good.
MCS liked Mom's numbers and took the news of exactly where Mom is, now, very well. She tends to agree with me that Mom probably has at least 5 years. I think we are both sure that she'll see 90. It'll surprise the shit out of all of us, including Mom, but we'll all be thrilled. Including Mom. She also likes the sound of this FNP. I've been very lucky with this clinic (as has Mom) in that even when people leave as did our physician, last November, they are replaced with extraordinary people who all agree that patients and medical advocates such as myself should be granted the dignity of autonomy of decision. When I learned that our other doctor had defected, even though I liked my working relationship with him (and it took some work), I had no qualms about seeing whomever we were assigned. This is the clinic, remember, who houses the owner/physician who leveled with my mother about her diabetes and gave her a choice about treatment, being very clear about the consequences of treatment vs non-treatment.
So I've successfully added yoghurt to her diet. She loves it. She'll probably most often have it for lunch. She remembered that she used to put wheat germ in it and wants me to get some of that. Great! I'm eating it because I know its good for me but the stuff with artificial sweetener is, whew, very, very sweet! My mother likes it, though, and it should be good for her. Another way to receive calcium and protein, too.
I'm feeling very mellow. Bills are pretty much paid. I'm missing one but sometimes the City of Prescott runs late so I'll check tomorrow. Taxes should be so easy to get together this year that I expect to have our package ready to go on Monday.
I'm doing cleaning, forgodssake! I don't know. I'm feeling good, again. Really good.
Later.
