Dentist Appointment For Mom...

Today was Mom's dentist appointment, every six months our son Kristofer takes Mom to the dentist. This time I had to go too for a broken tooth. I do not like going to any doctors, and I was not too excited to find out what he had to do to repair it. It turned out it was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Anyway... we picked Mom up at the main area where most of the Oldies and Goodies like to hang out. Everyone of them had coats or sweaters, and even blankets on. They were all very cold, and they did not want to go outside it was too hot. I guess when you get in the eighties or nineties nothing seems to make you happy. Also, no one is talking except my Mom. Tom told me most of them can't hear and don't care too. I think that's what gets my Mom upset is that when she is talking no one else responds. Then she feels most of the people are crazy. 

I told Mom where she was going, and she seemed to be okay with it. I had to sign her out and get her pills. I also asked them to leave her dinner for her. I thought if she does not eat very well for us, she could nibble on her dinner they left her.

We had some time to kill so we took her to Edward Hines Park to see the lake and some ducks. She loved seeing the waterbirds and she also picked some wildflowers. Yes..I know you are not supposed to pick wildflowers, but she was happy and she did not pick too many. 

Mom is picking flowers, and she said it reminded her when she had her flower garden. My dad and her had the most beautiful flower garden and rose garden. I was sort of in shock when she told me how she missed her flowers.

 Here she spotted a dead duck, and she felt bad about it. She asked me how did that happened?

 There were not that many waterbirds out today in the lake but what birds were out today made Mom smile.

 Mom did not say too much, but I knew she felt in peace just being out there watching the birds swimming . Several of them came to shore just to say hello to us.

 Mom sitting on a huge rock, and I told her to smile. She kept a good tight grip on her flowers.

After killing some time at the park, we noticed Mom was in a better mood. We got in the car and drove off to see the dentist. Kristofer my son gave her a People Magazine, and you know how much she loves to read about the movie stars. Then it was her turn to go and get her teeth cleaned.The Dental Hygienic came out and told Tom and I that she is not brushing her teeth like she should. Lisa gave us a kids timer for her to use, to time her brushing. Tom and I looked at each other, and when Lisa left we sort of laughed because we can't even get her out of bed sometimes, or dressed. I can list more things that Mom will not do but I would be typing for a long time. I know Lisa is doing her job and wants Mom to have healthy teeth, but right now the condition Mom is in remembering things there is no way we can even suggest it to her. Kristofer did put out her new tooth brush , toothpaste and the kids timer on her bathroom sink. At least he tried to get her to brush her teeth.

 Mom loves to find out about the movie stars in the People Magazine.

Mom smiling at the other patients, and waiting nicely for her turn.

At the end of her appointment we took her to her favorite restaurant in Allen Park, Moro's . She ate really well, and yes the waiters treated her like a QUEEN. We then went to Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. She loved stopping there, and picking out her favorite doughnuts. I got her to stand in front of one of the trucks. She then asked me don't forget to give her the photo of her by the truck.

 Here's Miss Lucy... standing at her favorite Doughnut Truck.

After picking doughnuts, we brought back some for the helpers who help Mom at night at American House. The helpers were so excited to get some doughnuts from Miss LUCY..... They told me they sure love MISS LUCY!!!!

Big Gathering on the Front Porch

Tom and I saw Mom downstairs with her friend Carmela so we decided to quickly go to her apartment. When we got to her apartment we plugged back the television and put the air on. Mom keeps unplugging her television and turns off her air. I have all kinds of notes to remind her not to do those two things, but it seems she just throws my notes away. Left her fruit snacks and left her favorite bagel on the table for her. Got her clean clothes put away and looked for her dirty clothes. After we did a couple of other things I walked over to Sherry's apartment and gave her the Friday's bagel . She loves those bagels too.

Quickly, we went downstairs and Mom was so happy to see us. She kept telling me in Armenian that everyone does not like her. I had to explain again on how everyone does like her. She can't understand why people will walk by her and they don't say hello or even smile at her. It's so hard for her to understand that people do not have to be friendly every time they see her. She truly watches everyones body language. I had her and her best friend Carmela to come outside in the shade. She  then expressed in Armenian all the people that were down there who was nice and who was crazy. Mom gets upset if I say hello to those who are not nice to her. We wheeled Carmella outside and then others followed us out. Mom was not too happy to see others were coming out, but she tried to be nice.

Mom talking to her two friends outside. She seems so proud that she had two friends, and she knew deep down they liked her a lot too.

Many others came outside too. Everyone was in there own thoughts or tried to get into other conversations but it was hard for them because they could not hear everything or each orther.

The ladies were talking about their brains and how they all felt their brains were not working like they used too. They could not understand what was happening to their brains but they were so glad that they were not alone in feeling like they did. Then all three of them started laughing, and expressed how happy they were that all three of them had the same brain problems.

Mom does not hear everything in some conversations, but this time she saw everyone laughing so she laughed too.

She continued to laugh yet if you noticed the lady next to her was not. I saw Mom laughing and I started laughing with her. She then replied to me, "can you believe how funny that was." I had no idea what she was talking about but I agreed.

Here is our Friend Roger. He kept riding his bike for about an hour. He went to the neighborhood Coney Island, and then he drove into the American House Parking lot and kept going around and around the parking lot for about an hour, then he pulled under the shade and told us how excited he was to be going to Chicago to see his brother.

 Mom is in her thoughts again. I love to know what she thinks about when she goes there.

The Dot Girls came outside and of course Mom had words about these two. These two are not friendly and they whisper to each other all the time when they are together. When you do bring them into the conversation they usually are very negative.

The Dot Girl who has the balloons was celebrating her 93rd birthday today. She said she did not feel any different from yesterday.

Larry her asked how old Dot was and he told her with much laughter that he was 94 and she had to listen to him because he was older than her. Everyone laughed. 

When we decided to leave, we left Mom outside and I felt good that she was so happy. She loved being outside surrounded by the flowers she helped plant and she was with her two best friends. We gave her some butterfly kisses and she told us to drive carefully and come again. She then continued talking to her friends, as we walked to our car.

Saturday Fun With Mom.....

Saturday afternoon with Mom was so much better today then a few days ago. Several days ago she was in such a horrible mood that she told Tom and I to leave and never come back. We still do not know what happened. When we got there today I called her brother, and sister in-law. She had a ball talking to them. I truly believe that she knew who they were, and just listening to her conversation she seemed she was aware of what they were saying to her, and what she was saying to them. 

Tom made her coffee and boy did she enjoy every sip. She loves drinking coffee or hot tea in her favorite MSU mug.

Mom gets into this stare and she gets very quiet. I would love to figure out what she is thinking. All I know she was in such a good mood, and so happy today.

 We gave her favorite fruit to snack on and she loves eating fruit.

Here she is telling us about all her friends, and how much she loved living in her big house. What a cute face she has!

My sweet husband is making Mom coffee. She loves how he makes her coffee. Yes.. she loves tons of sugar in each cup.

I brought her another photo book of the photos I took this week. She loves looking at each photo and loves to hear each story about the photos.

 Here she is smiling and what a smile she had today, compared to a couple of days ago.

Grapes and her favorite bagel with honey cream cheese.  Loves her bagels... Trying to get her a little chubby. Each time we see her I feel she is getting too skinny.

Mom is enjoying every bite of the healthy snacks we brought for her to enjoy.

I keep placing photos on the walls and doors to help her remember things.

After we had some fun talk with Mom while she was eating her snacks up in her apartment, we asked her if she wanted to go for a walk. She was very excited and we went downstairs and walked to the back patio. We sat there for awhile, and a very cool breeze was cooling us off. Sherry came to sit with us, but Mom did not talk too much to her. Sherry said Mom has been ignoring her, and I told Sherry don't take it personally because she does it to me all the time. Mom started talking when she saw her friend Jasper come out from the back. He had just finished playing Bingo and he wanted to say hello to all of us. He sat and talked for awhile then he had to go back inside to check on his wife. Mom kept telling us all how she helped Kathy plant all these flowers. She would get up a couple of times and weed each flower box. She was so proud of herself and how she helped make her big house so pretty with all the colorful flowers. 

This is sweet Sherry. She is such a sweet lady, and so kind to everyone.

 Mom telling us about all the flowers and how she put them around the patio.

Mom then drifted into her little world again, but this time her face shows me that it was a happy thought.

Here comes Jasper, and boy did Mom give him the kisses and hugs.

 Jasper is telling us more stories about him being a school custodian.

 Mom was listening to Jasper stories but had some kind of an attitude  when Sherry started talking.

Some of the flowers that she helped plant with Kathy.

It was getting time for her supper and I told her lets walk to the dining room. When we got there she was not sure what she wanted to do.

This photo broke my heart, I had just told Mom to stay and eat her dinner here. She told me that she would rather go to her house to eat. I saw Noel, across the room and told Mom that Noel is eating all by herself. 

She saw her friend Noel, who is blind. She went up to her and told her it was Lucy. Noel got very excited and told her to eat with her.  Mom told her that she would love to eat with her. Mom also told her that she loved her very much as a friend.

The next thing I saw was the two of them ready to have dinner served. We all kissed Mom, and we left knowing Mom was happy. I just hope she eats........

The Broken Air Conditioner and Helping with Bingo!

We were suppose to go to our friends cottage today, but still having problems with the asthma and Pleurisy. we decided it was not a good idea.  As it turned out, we got a call about Mom not wanting to get up and come out of her room. We quickly went there before the temperature went to hundred.

We were so glad that we went. Mom had no air-conditioning on, and on top of it she had her heat on too. Tom, turned on the air-condition but it did not work very good. Mom said she did everything to put it on and it just got hotter. She also explained that her television was not working either.  Fixing the television was easy because Mom unplugged it, as she always does when she wants it off. Mom was dressed, and not in a very good mood. I could understand why she would not be in a happy mood because it was so hot in her apartment. Tom and Kristofer did everything to try and fix the air-condition but it just wasn't cooling very good. I am not 88 years old and I could not breathe in her apartment even Tom and Kristofer were having some heat issues being there.

Not to happy when we walked in.  She was complaining about everything and everyone. She did like the fruit that Tom cleaned for her and the cinnamon bagel we brought her.

Mom when she realized that the televsion was fixed and ready for her to watch television.

It was so hot we had to open her apartment door. Mom was not too happy about that, because she likes her privacy. It was cooler in the hallway than in her apartment.

Tom and Kristofer went downstairs to find some fans, and to see if they could exchange the room air-condtioner from another apartment. Lois, who was in charge of the Big House today found two fans. Lois called the custodian to fix the air conditioner, but could not reach him. 

Here was a fan that Lois brought up to try and cool Mom's apartment.

Lois found another fan and hoping this will help cool Mom's living room area off, so she can enjoy watching television.

This is the malfunctioning air-condition. Mom said she did everything to get it started. She even put the heat on.

Mom was very upset that the television was not working too. This was an easy fix because she just unplugged. She forgets how to shut the television off , so the easy way is to unplug everything. Sometimes Mom will even take all the Comcast wires out too, now when Mom does that its like trying to put a puzzle back in place.

Lois told Mom she wanted her to help her with Bingo game downstairs hoping that by Mom going downstairs she will get cool. They were playing in the dinning room and it was so much cooler there for her. Mom did not want to go with her but still told her that she would go.Then the next thing I heard Mom cussing me out  in Armenian. Mom always likes to blame me for everything. I am getting used to her blaming me and cussing me out.  I asked  her why she was talking like that to me in Armenian? She gave me the look. Everyone knows what that means when your Mother gives you the look....... Lois heard what I said to Mom, and then she spoke out loud to her in German. I loved it. You should have seen my Mom's face.

Mom walked into the dinning room, and she was not a happy Diva. Lois asked her if she wanted to play, and of course she said no. She stood up for awhile and then she finally sat. We left her there and we were leaving the building when we saw Carmella and met Nellie. Carmella wanted to go in the television room and hear the forties music that Nellie was listening to. Tom pushed her wheel chair in the room, and then she wanted to sit on the couch. Kristofer and Tom helped Carmella to get on the couch. She was so happy, you thought you gave her a million dollars. Carmella asked me to get my Mom over here to hear the music, and I told her that after Bingo she will come and sit with her.

This is my mother's favorite friend Carmella. She wanted to join Nellie to hear the forties music.  She is so cute, especially when she smiles and there are a whole row of top teeth gone. She is from Italy, and has this broken English when she speaks. I told her how much I loved her pearls. She told me that her mother gave it to her a long time ago, and she did not like them. Now that her mother is gone, she misses her so much she loves wearing the pearls.

This is Nellie. Such a sweet lady. She was in this big room just smiling away and listening to the music with Carmella, coming from the radio. She also told me how Carmella called her to the window to come and see a black squirrel. She laughed at Carmella and said there are not any black squirrels, but when she looked out the window, she could not believe what she was seeing. A black squirrel was looking at her. She kept telling me how she never knew there were black squirrels like there are black people. She just kept laughing about her story and still could not believe there were black squirrels just like black people.

We peeked back into the dining room to see how Mom was doing.  Mom is walking in the room where everyone is playing Bingo. She is walking in very slowly, and usually she will say hello to everyone and give hugs not now when she does not even want to be there.

Everyone down here are very serious Bingo Players. They even play with real money pennies and nickels..

This is the lady that always seems angry and always complaining that Mom is eating at the wrong time. Mom should not being eating the time that she is down there. I try and be friendly to her every time I see her, but not a smile or hello will appear from this lady.

 Mom is seeing something during the Bingo Game. I hope she does not speak up.

This man is Jasper the retired custodian. Someone said Bingo and he got out of his chair to make sure that person should say Bingo. He looked like such an official Bingo person. I thought the man would get mad having Jasper check on his card, but nothing was said.

This is the man that won the Bingo Game. He said I was a spy from the newspaper company, and that's why I was taking photos. He is smiling like a Winner. This man is not very old, and usually he never talks. He sure he is talking after he won a game of Bingo. He always is staring in space when I see him. So glad to see he can be a happy man.

When we saw Mom give a little smile, we then thought its time to leave. She is starting to adjust being down there.

We tried leaving again and the Dot Girls and the rest of the Oldies and Goodies were complaining that this building was breaking down all around them. Everything around them was falling apart and one lady said even they are falling apart. They wonder where their money was going if nothing is being fixed. I told them that you should go outside and you would be so happy that you are in such a wonderful building with air-conditioning. They said soon that will be breaking down like my Mom's air-condition. Those two Dot Girls gets everyone wrapped up in their complaining but I do understand why they are like they are because I heard no one from their families come to visit them. Maybe that's why they are like they are, not having the love they need each day?

We got to the door, to leave and two men came flying in. One in a wheel chair and the other man pushing him. They both had such red faces, and I knew they were outside too long. Both of them went and told the Dot Girls how hot it was outside. We did not stick around, to hear what they would say to the men. I just could not hear anymore complaining...

Now we are home, and I am so glad I am not 88 years old yet.  Most of these Oldies and Goodies feel they don't have a life any more. They have no excitement, no adventure, nothing to look forward to and can't remember what happened yesterday, can't leave or get up when they want too. Everyday is the same for each of them, they eat, sleep and sit. They can't hear the television, they don't like the food, they don't like to walk or can't, they can't hear anyone talking, it's either too hot, or too cold..... I could go on......