Man of the Woods is combining barley today.. in fact he’s still out there now, with our son corn carting on the tractor and trailer. He’ll go until damp air alters the cutability (I think I just made another word up) of the straw and he starts swearing from sorting blockages out. I’ve known him go to midnight before tiredness creeps over him.
I sat on the combine and kept him company for an hour and naturally he wanted to hear about my second hospital visit of the day. I bought sandwiches for lunch from the garage. Was not going to cook today!
So, mother.
When I tell you that the expertise of the NHS staff have lowered her sugars from 57 to 9.9 in thirty nine hours … and her keytones from 9 to 0.7, you’ll not be surprised that dad and I can’t sing their praises highly enough.
The diabetes consultant on duty at lunchtime was treated to a first class dressing down from the patient who is bloody lucky to still be alive. She cut him off at the knees verbally through the air mask, pointing her finger at him as she announced she was the creative ‘type’ and therefore was suffering from type5 diabetes and had he heard of it?
He was both slick and kind in his reply that he had indeed heard of the research but that presently in the UK, they still worked with Type 1 and Type 2. He went on to inform her that once she was stable, they would be introducing insulin injections alongside solid meals and they would teach her all she needed to know before being released but for the next few days, they had further observations to make.
I had four hours sleep last night so did grab a lie-in for half hour this morning, but dad didn’t sleep at all bless him, nor the night before when he phoned for the ambulance at 02:30.
We went in together this morning and each again a second time, coinciding for ten minutes. Then he came round for a beer in the garden … and enjoyed a debrief. He’s less worried about her now. 24 hours ago, they were saying ‘we’ll do all we can’. Tonight they’re saying all sorts of positive things but there’s still a long way to go.
The hallucinations make for interesting discussions.
‘Can you see the mist?’
‘The what, sorry?’
‘The mist’ she looked up to the ceiling. I looked up too and saw just the four square lights and a smoke alarm.
‘If you get up and walk round the bed, you’ll be in it.’
I purse my lips and watch the tea trolley on the other side of the 4-person ward,
‘Go on! Walk round!’ a little louder than I’d liked, I dutifully get up and move round the end of the bed.
‘See it?’
‘No mum, I don’t see it.’ I said it gently.
‘Oh, no – not you as well!’ 🙄 this emoji shows her face well ‘everyone says I’m going mad.’
‘It’s probably the medication.’ I suggest.. when actually in the back of my mind, something tells me hallucinations can be a side effect of a UTI. She’s on a hefty dose of antibiotics for infection that did mess with the sugars. Let’s just say there’s a lot going on.
‘Those white squares on the ceiling – they are where the mist comes from. They send it out in hospitals early evening to relax the patients.’
I didn’t argue.
I’m now worried about every single sweet treat I open. How much is too much?
Dad and I sat in Costa on the ground floor of the hospital and we had the most open chat I’ve ever had with him in my life. We both agreed if she makes it through, we are both going to be much stronger about doing what’s ‘right’ rather than sit back and watch her do it ‘her way’ when it’s so detrimental to her health. It was incredible to hear him tonight say ‘against my better judgment, I agreed to let her try her way.’
🌸
Meanwhile, Curtis Brown emailed asking for my first 3000 words and synopsis again as they decide who gets a place on their six-month online course. I’ll hear within a couple days I reckon.
Hope you’ve all had great day with lots of positivity in it
Good luck with Curtis Brown Iumj am currently trying to write a synopsis for them and it’s hell x
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Oh fabulous!!!
They are hell, I agree. I’ve no idea if mine ‘worked’ and would love a lesson of synopsis from someone who knows
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So would I. I read Louise Jensen’s blog about it but still feel befuddled about it. My plot works in my head and on a plot board but on one page summary maybe not.
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Hallucinations are scary. My daughter had them because of her antihistamine meds last year. We were sitting on the floor when suddenly she talked about the man looking through the window and then as she went up the stairs she had to be careful as hands were grabbing her feet. She just laughed leaving me freaked.
Hope your mum settles and big hugs to you x
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Goodness, that must have been horrible.. thank you. Going in shortly to see her. I wonder if her speech might be improving slightly from the measured, carefully chosen words, rather than instinctive reactions to questions or statements …
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Whew! you’ve had a lot going on. I can remember when my mother was ill. It was very stressfull.My thoughts are with you. And the barely….we have farms aroudn us that grow winter wheat, corn, and soybeans. The winter wheat is all in now. We’ve had very hot weather and luckily some rain. We don’t farm but we see our neighbours working all hours.
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What a lovely vision … it’s the oldest profression on the planet and humbles me often when I watch them working modern machines but know they are simply gathering foodstuffs for consumption 🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾
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Thinking about you and concerned for your mother’s health. Man of the Woods , you and your son….all work so hard! Hoping for a bountiful harvest! 💙
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You are so kind… it’s lovely to hear from others who have no doubt been touched by similar situations of health-related situations with family members who have been difficult.
My duty of care is strong, and I will do all I can to assist dad. What I am far more able to do these days is not ‘wear’ any depth of emotional trauma …. so the minute I walk away from her, I no longer spend hours mulling stuff over. It is much healthier … for me, for her, for my immediate family 👌🏼
It is a busy time there’s no doubt… harvest is a lovely traditional time of gathering in all you’ve toiled for during the previous 9 months!
Have a great day Patty xx
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Diabetes is scary but manageable. If your Mom has a UTI then you are likely right about the hallucinations being part of that. That is a condition that is fairly easy to treat once they get the right diagnosis, it does imitate much scarier things like dementia (hence hallucinations).
Strength to you and your family.
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Thank you darling…
Dad and I did talk about the possible future elements of management.
There is a part of him who knows she should have seen someone weeks ago and he will have to process that potential guilt which may seep into him.
Two days after her fall on 20 May, when we were sat in her back garden, her arm in an A&E sling, the bruises coming through jet black and dad making us tea and staying quiet…. I did my best to persuade her to follow up the A&E’s advice and encouraged her to go see a) the fracture clinic and b) the diabetes specialist because even she thought she’d blacked out and fallen in the carpark. But she got so angry and wanted to ‘get stronger before starting down that road’ …. she warned me with words like ‘back off’ … and dad reassured me that he was doing everything he could and not to worry…
I thought back then of contacting her doctor but I don’t know if that is protocol. I visited with practical help, like food parcels… until she told me stop doing even that because she felt I was trying to take control of her life!
🙈
Oh dear.
We’ve a juggle ahead, no doubt.
Thank you for your thoughts – I so appreciate it x
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Oh I know that struggle. My Mother had Type 2 Diabetes and her Father was Type 1. He passed when I was very young, but in late 2013, I moved to Ohio to take care of my Mom because she “just needs someone to keep an eye on her”.
And thus began one of the single most frustrating tasks of my life lol. You can’t put uncooperative Mothers over your knee or on time out. And when they take it into their head that you are trying to tell them what to do….oh my god is that a nightmare. Mine had COPD and a few other issues, was not supposed to be smoking. At the time I was still smoking but I quit in early 2015, she started back up regularly and smoked so much I had to move out because she wouldn’t stop and I couldn’t breath. In the end, the smoking got her, respiratory failure.
It was really sad because she wasn’t looking to die early, but she got so wrapped up in doing what she wanted to do and felt like everyone else was “trying to run my life”, that she wouldn’t listen to anyone. She said to me that she hated feeling like she had no control over her own life anymore. She had control of everything except her health and just refused to acknowledge that her body was not going to accommodate the poison she was putting into it.
In your case, unless she has some paperwork clearing the doctor to talk to you about her health conditions, the doctor will tell you he can’t tell you anything. You may want to talk to both your parents about this and consider Power of Attorney, but look into the laws in your state, and county if you are in the U.S.. Being a daughter if a medical decision is necessary they might overlook a lack of POA, I was allowed to decide on my Mom going on a respirator at one point (something I decided after talking to her doctor, and then explaining everything to my Mom, basically helping her decide, but this was because she was conscious. It would have been really difficult if she had been unconscious, because I knew she did not want to be on a machine like that).
In my case, I was against the idea of POA because my county would have made me financially responsible for her care (something I could not afford) and possibly her debts as well (of which she had numerous), but ultimately because I was next of kin there was leeway there.
Basically, you are going to have to figure out how to convince your Mom that she has to take control of her health and this means choosing to eat healthy and if she smokes, give up smoking. That can lead to heart disease and contribute along with the Diabetes to kidney disease and renal failure. My Mom ended up on kidney dialysis for the last few years of her life as well. That might be a selling point so to speak, on convincing your Mom to stop fighting you and your Dad on taking care of herself.
I wish you much luck and strength.
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Wow … sounds horribly similar.
Thank you for your thoughts and advice and for taking the time to be here 🌸
I am going in to see her in an hour or so; we’ll see how she’s doing. I’m not a betting person, but I bet you a dollar she has not yet tried solid food, as this was the catalyst for starting the injections (the very thing she’d been trying to avoid since being diagnosed).
I think POA is something I should speak to dad about and sooner rather than later. He is very organised. He’s a mathematical minded AND ex-military and knows where every penny is and what it’s doing 👌🏼
Thanks for sharing … your story and mine x
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Good luck, and you’re welcome. I think your Dad will actually be a lot of help…I didn’t have mine as he passed on in 1999, but if he had been around, he probably would have had more luck with my Mom in terms of getting her to behave.
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Hoping all goes well. Diabetes is so scary a disease.
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Thank you very much .., that’s very kind of you 🌸
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