Monday, February 24, 2014 

Dogs have been outside and have eaten their breakfast. Mom has been up and is back in bed. But at least I got to her before she could make a mess. Call from a patient’s daughter last night. She is seeking suppositories for her mother. Made the rounds of calls with the CNAs involved, assured her that everything would be OK. I understand the edge in the daughter’s voice. I sometimes hear it in mine, too.  And she gets far less sleep than I do. Her mother does not often sleep through the night and screams loudly. Hard to sleep through that. 

My mom does sleep peacefully—but not always through the night. She gets up once or twice for a bathroom break, but at least here she sleeps well. In Bayonne, mom was totally exhausted. She would often slur her words and slump over the kitchen table. She complained of being so tired. Her sister, who shared her bed, often hallucinated at night and sometimes vomited and evacuated her bowels on the bed. But Rose is in a nursing home now and getting good care and safe from harm. Their caregiver Ann was fantastic. I don’t know how she did it, but I do know that she sacrificed her own health to care for the two women, one of them most assuredly quite ill. Ann did laundry constantly, cleaned the apartment, bought food, cooked, cleaned the women, and called for medical help when she saw the need. She even entertained them and bought them crafts and coloring books. Played BINGO with them. And she sang and danced with mom. It was a 24/7 job. No one should ever have to do that. I now understand why she did. I just don’t understand how she did it.