For the past couple of years I have been trying to anticipate the next medical crisis that Mom would encounter. Seems odd to think about today since her health has been so fantastic for the past 6-7 months. That hasn’t been the case at all in the past.  I think that I now have the confidence to know that I simply can’t anticipate anything and that I just need to be patient and understand that when something happens we will deal with it.  Mom’s fate isn’t in my hands.

There was a time not too long ago that my every question to her was to determine exactly what she was feeling and what it could mean.  During the previous two years we have encountered a wide array of problems but never the same one’s twice.  It drove me crazy especially since I am not that thrilled about anything medical.  It is messy and can lead to people dying.  Just when I figured out what the signs of internal bleeding were and saw her thru that crisis, we would never see symptoms of it again.  With every fall does she have to go the the Dr. or emergency room?  Initially, as she has been on coumadin for so long, I thought absolutely yes.  Now, it is a judgement call.

Mom is taking about 13 different medications each day.  I now refer to her as a chemistry set and am totally grateful to her two main doctors, Rachael Young, Family Practice, PAMF and Michael Ruder, Cardiologist, CMCA, for managing her body chemistry so expertly.  It is nothing short of amazing how much better her quality of life and sense of well being has become since she has been under the care of these two doctors.  Two years ago many were counting her out and last night she held court at a dinner with her very funny Norwegian jokes and general impressions of the world today.   The difference is all in getting the chemist set  properly set up and administered.  Oh, by the way,  nutrition, exercise and intellectual stimulation weigh in pretty heavily as well.

Almost two years ago Mom moved into Woodside Terrace  (aka The Big House) which is an assisted living community in Redwood City, CA.  Previous to this she lived in Sun City, AZ and my siblings and I would have to fly in to help her as she went from one medical emergency to another.  Surgeries, strokes, etc. left her in very tenuous shape and it appeared that her mental abilities were also diminishing.   After the second stroke a family decision was made that Mom needed to live near to one of her children.  It  took a near hijacking to get her to move to California but after much drama we got her to move.   When she arrived in CA, she immediately had cardic problems.  The doctors called it “ominous” and we were told that elderly folk  often died peacefully in her sleep. 

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