June 3 - 8th Nothing too Interesting.

Friday, June 3rd, we managed to meet up with my Aunt and Uncle in Coquitlam and go to their favourite pub, the John B, for lunch. We've been so busy and they are very busy as well so I called them up on the spur of the moment and we were able to get in a visit. Great seeing you guys.



Saturday I stayed home and waited for the pressure-washing of the driveway to be completed. Quite the job, it took 4 hours but it is so much cleaner and less slippery, even when wet which was the main reason we had it done. I even had Dad's huge rock in the garden pressure-washed so we have our own "White Rock" lol.  Ray had Larny's husband do some pruning around the rock so you could even see it so it was time to clean all of the moss off of it.

Our very own "White Rock" (a little fuzzy from my cell phone :))

It remained quite cloudy all day until about 5 pm when the sun finally broke through. Ray went and visited his mum for a couple of hours. She is steadily going downhill, very heart breaking to watch.

Sunday I stayed with Dad as it was Larny's day off. Ray went back to the hospital for a visit with his mum again as on Saturday there were several other people visiting, he really did not get a chance to spend time talking with her himself. He was back by 1pm and we sat outside in the sunshine for the afternoon relaxing. Glad the sun is back although not nearly as warm as a week ago.

Dad's tomato's are growing well in the greenhouse. We should be able to have some fresh ones in a few weeks I think. I take pictures for him as he does not ever come outside unless he needs to go to an appointment. He has no strength either and trouble breathing when he exerts himself.

The menu tonight was Braised Turkey Thighs in my Instant Pot. Turned out beautifully. I also tried my hand at making a dessert, not something I usually do. It turned out quite well, at least everyone scarfed it back pretty quick!

Monday, Ray and I were supposed to be at the hospital for a 1:30 pm meeting. (Meeting was cancelled.) They are going to discuss "what to do" with mum. We anticipate that the decision will be made that she will not be going back to Assisted Living and they will attempt to have her moved to Extended Care or Palliative Care. if there is any room, to free up her Acute Care bed.  I honestly do not think that she will leave the ward as she is declining so fast. She cannot tolerate even sitting upright in a chair. for any length of time. Once the decision is made I guess Ray and I will have to empty her apartment at the Assisted Living... more stuff to get rid of. Ray spent the afternoon speaking with the Patient Ombudsman regarding all of the failures of mum's care and non-communication with us of change of care plan.

How one day can make so much change! Mum is finally feeling better and eating again after not eating since last Tuesday. Ray went alone to the hospital today thinking he was going for a short visit and then come back home. Instead after his phone calls yesterday he ended up in 3 meetings, the last being with the whole healthcare team of about 8 people. It was finally ironed out what mum wants in regard to her care and what the hospital plans to do.

Ray came home exhausted and we had previous plans to meet up with some friends  at Original Joes for Happy Hour we had not seen since last Christmas in Phoenix. In spite of being a "basket case" with his back, Ray wanted to go anyways to have a good ending to a long, long day. We had a terrific 2 hour visit and then it was home to bed for Ray. (Again I forgot to take pictures!) The picture below is one I took with them last Christmas doing the "Loop of Lights".



Wednesday, Ray and I both went to the hospital to take Freya to see Mum as per her wishes. Unfortunately she was still in bed and not in her special wheelchair. We also consulted with the Palliative Care doctor about pain management for her while there. The nurses were busy with her as well as they believe she has a urinary track infection, as her white blood cell count is up and she was feeling really weak again. Ray and I did not stay too long as it was quite warm out for Freya being in the car. While there though,we got the word they will be trying to place her in an extended care facility as her Assisted Living placement has declined taking her back. Not a big surprise there. This means that we will probably have to empty out her apartment before the end of the month. As we do not know where she is going we will have to box up a bunch of her things and keep them here at Dad's for now until we find out more info. At present it looks like she will be around for a much longer time that was anticipated 2 weeks ago. I am not sure she will like her life now as she was so independant before, and there is probably little chance she will ever walk again.

While we were gone, Dad's nurse took him to the doctor to check him out regarding his coughing up blood. His doctor believes he has a bit of a chest infection, which is why I wanted him to see her. Anyways off I went to fill his prescription. Took me an hour and a half as everyone else was doing the same thing it seemed. Back home at 2:30 I finally sat down for an hour before preparing our dinner, doing some laundry and generally giving the floor a cleaning. At 5:30 got news from Dad's caregiver Larny, she was taking her husband to the ER as his leg from his boil was not getting any better with the antibiotics and he was previously directed by the walk-in clinic to go after 2 days if he was not improving. Fortunately she had given Dad his dinner and I spent the rest of the evening with him and helping him to bed before coming back to the coach at 9:30. I'm totally bushed.

On a side note, Mark, Larny's husband, is working at a poultry farm at present and was driven home from work today with 2 dozen eggs and 2 live chickens! WTF. I told them we do not want them here so they were going to see if their friends would take them. With them taking off right away to the hospital and the chickens stuffed in a small box and left under a tree .... I moved them into the greenhouse and put out some water and wild bird seed. I opened the box and tipped it on the side so they could feel somewhat safe. They did not leave the box and looked pretty scared. With the weather changed to rain and cool they should be okay in there for a day or two. Hopefully they do not eat Dad's tomato's. When I checked Thursday am they were out of the box and patrolling the greenhouse.

Thursday we woke to rain, good for the transplanted hosta's at Dad's. Ray and I are staying home today to recharge our batteries. I poked my nose into the house this morning at 7 am to make sure Larny and Mark are back from the hospital as this is the time Dad usually gets up. All is well, they are back and Mark had the boil lanced open and drained so he should be good to go in a day or so. He should have listened to me 4 days ago when Larny showed me the cell phone picture of his boil, and told him to soak his leg in epsom salts twice a day to get rid of the infection but he was too lazy I think. He went to the walk-in clinic a day later for anti-biotics and two days later had to go to the ER and have it dealt with. A lot of bother and time wasted ... 5 hours at the walk-in clinic and 5 hours wait at the ER last night. I am sure Larny will tell him that he should have listened to "Momsie" lol Welcome to Canada Eh!