Today I celebrate fond memories of two McGyver-esque men who could fix just about anything mechanical. (Or so it seemed to me.) March 28 was the birthdate of both my late dad Harold (1913-1984) and my brother-in-law Randy (1951-1996), whom I loved dearly. Both died way too early. When their shared birthday comes around, I [...]
Archive for the ‘Caring for Mom’ Category
Thankful for the Time We Had
Posted in Ann-itudes (+ Attitudes), Mourning, tagged Legacies on March 28, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Insurance Refund Check Made Out to Deceased (26 Years)
Posted in Ann-itudes (+ Attitudes), Eldercare on March 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Health insurance refund check made out to someone deceased 26 years ago. I’m just trying to get the refund check made out to someone alive. Is that too much to ask?
Mom’s Hands
Posted in Ann-itudes (+ Attitudes), Mourning, tagged Ann-itudes (+ Attitudes), Memories, Mothers, Mourning on January 10, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Memories of Mom’s hands will forever make me grin. Mom’s hands placed my icky-tasting peas on fun toothpicks and cut my liver into the must-eat square inch. Taught me to create learn-to-read flash cards: a magazine cut-out of a thumb pasted on the front, and “thumb” carefully lettered on the back. Guided me through “Hop [...]
Greetings! Welcome to Annsights
Posted in Ann-itudes (+ Attitudes), Caring for Mom, Health, Nutrition, tagged Blog, Blogging, Eldercare, Fitness, Gift Ideas, Good Attitude, Good Vibes, Health, Mourning, Nutrition, Trusera, Weightloss on November 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
My name is Ann. Since these are my personal insights, they are “Annsights.” My hope is that my insights will ring true for someone else, making a positive difference in some small way in another’s life. Please return often. I’ll enjoy your company. With a personal goal of “Pursuing Lifelong Fitness” after going from a [...]
Backstory #5: Expanding My Long-Distance Caregiving
Posted in Backstory, tagged Caregiver, Caregiving, Dementia, Eldercare, Long-distance caregiving, Stroke, Stroke-Induced Dementia on January 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Wed. Jan. 21, 2009 21:03:45 GMT My fears finally materialized during one of my weekend trips home, while I routinely reviewed Mom’s check book and canceled checks. In what had always been a textbook example of A+ perfect order, I started seeing confusion. By the summer of 2005, at age 84, Mom’s memory was getting [...]
Backstory #4: Increasing Long-Distance and Local Caregiving
Posted in Backstory, tagged Caregiver, Caregiving, Dementia, Eldercare, Long-distance caregiving, Memory Loss, Stroke, Stroke-Induced Dementia on January 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Fri., Jan. 16, 2009 20:43:26 GMT In 2003, when Mom was 81, I accepted a wonderful promotion and ended up moving even farther away from her – farther north, from Chicagoland to Madison, Wisconsin. My gut and guilt required me to start calling and visiting Mom more frequently. Instead of a minimum of four hours, [...]
Backstory #3: Obtaining Legal Caregiver Rights
Posted in Backstory, tagged Caregiver, Dementia, Eldercare, Healthcare Power of Attorney, Long-distance caregiving, Memory Loss, POA, Power of Attorney, Stroke, Stroke-Induced Dementia on January 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Thurs., Jan. 15, 2009 20:32:53 GMT After that initial scare in 1999, when Mom collapsed, McDonalds called 911 and the ER doc called me, Mom and I visited a local attorney we knew from church. The attorney prepared a General Durable Power of Attorney (POA) document giving me the legal right to make financial decisions [...]
Backstory #2: Easing into Long-Distance Caregiving
Posted in Backstory, tagged Caregiver, Caregiving, Eldercare, Long-distance caregiving, Memory Loss, Stroke, Stroke-Induced Dementia on January 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Wed., Jan. 14, 2009 16:58:47 GMT Over the course of the next few years, after her visit to the ER when the doctors revealed she had at some time experienced a stroke, if not multiple strokes, I called Mom weekly from Chicago. I drove back home to Indianapolis monthly, no matter the weather or how [...]
Backstory #1: Mom’s Initial Stroke Was a Warning
Posted in Backstory, tagged Caregiver, Caregiving, Dimentia, Eldercare, Long-distance caregiving, Memory Loss, Stroke, Stroke-Induced Dementia on January 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Tues., Jan 13, 2009 20:21:03 GMT Preface: If you read about my being Mom’s caregiver, and then about her eventual death in September 2008, you may be interested in our prequel, the back stories to the how and why of my becoming Mom’s caregiver, both long distance, then locally. These are the stories of her [...]
Revisiting the Nursing Home, After Mom’s Death
Posted in Mourning, tagged Ann-itudes (+ Attitudes), Caregiver, Caregiving, Death, Eldercare, Fading Life, Laughter, Mourning, Nursing Homes, Positive Attitude on December 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Friday, December 05, 2008 18:54:22 GMT It was more than Mom’s nursing home, it was her neighborhood. So, the day before Thanksgiving, I dropped by my late mother’s neighborhood. Often, when a resident dies, the neighborhood mourns not only the loss of the resident, but the loss of her visiting family, as well. That makes [...]
