If I Told You , You Wouldn’t Believe Me

No I am not talking about the deserted streets of New Orleans…I am talking about the relatively calm past few days we had with Mary.

Yesterday we watched the balloons launch again and then Jack misunderstood mom when she wanted to “walk”.  She meant she wanted to get up out of her chair and walk a bit and he thought she meant she wanted to go for a walk somewhere in her chair…I realized the misunderstanding right away but I told mom if Jack was willing to push her somewhere we might as well take advantage of it. We ended up going down to Union then on to the trail across the street, all the way down to the school, up to Van Buren, back down Valley Forge then up Costitution home. All in all about a mile and a 1/4…took us a good hour or so. The only bad part was the rise in the sidewalk here and there but Jack has spent time in a wheelchair and he knew a few tricks for navigating them.

Mexican food for supper then we sat outside some more then I wrestled mom into the bathtub for a hot bath. She didn’t go to bed until almost 9PM.

The last thing I said to her was “Please don’t try to get out of bed to use the bathroom…please please please… just wet your pants and I’ll clean you up, it’s not a big deal.”  She had not been able to pee since about 3PM so I knew she’d have to by the time she got up. Well, I reckon you know where I am going with  this….

About 6 AM I heard a big THUMP…yep sure enough she was flat on her face trying to get to the pot. I got Jack to help me pick her up and when I got her on the potty she had already pooped her pants. It’s back to a bowel movement every couple of hours.I am guessing that the instinct to get to the toilet is stronger than the realization that I told her to go ahead and mess her pants.  She peed a bit but not as much as you’d think after 16 hours. I’m a little worried but the nurse comes tomorrow and I’ll talk to her about it.

The thing to remember with Hospice is that they don’t try to CURE things…this is probably a result of the cancer spreading and our main goal is to keep her comfortable not to run her to the ER again and subject her to all the poking and prodding. She’s NOT in any pain so I’ll keep her warm, fed and clean and see what they say tomorrow. If it’s serious enough she will be admitted to the Hospice building on Pikes Peak for IVs to keep her hydrated and what not.

She’s resting now with the TV tuned to The Closer.