Changes

Our dear sweet Mr. Brooks is passing away today, it has been a very sad place to be. We have grown to love this man dearly and it is hard to sit and watch but I know it is part of our reason for being here.

Now another resident moved in last week, and she is a very sweet and fussy lady. She has good reason to be the way she is...she has suddenly had her life turned upside down with changes. She could use some company so anyone out there that loves to visit with the older generation we can help...we have them.

Also, last night our dear sweet Granny went into the hospital. This is a very unusual week for us.

Life in the Home

Well, we hired a new caregiver and he will be starting to work very soon....but now we don't have any residents...just Granny Honor....Mr. Brooks was having some urinary problems and since he is on hospice care his family took him to the hospice facility and we don't know anything else. No one has let us know how he is doing or what is going on. We have learned to love Mr. Brooks and we miss him....we are just praying everything is going the way it should.
We do have a couple of prospects and some cards have been handed out :) So hopefully someone will be calling.... then we will need maybe more caregivers...and that would make some other people happy.
We advertised on Craiglist, and got a ton of responses...so that was good. I am excited about the fact that their are so many willing caregivers out there :)
Granny Honor's sister came to visit the last couple days and she brought her two daughters...they had lunch with us today, and stayed for awhile and played games with Granny and taught us her favorite Solitaire type game called Kings corner...it was sure fun :) Granny loved it...and she is GOOOOO OOOD it is amazing how well she plays.
Well, thanks for stopping by :)

trying to hire new caregiver

Well, this is a new experience...I have only interviewed one person so far, but it was nice meeting her...she reminded me of someone I know that makes it easy. I got to know another person over the phone, she is a delight, but it didn't work out for her...but she is a nurse and we may be able to use her for service plans and that would be good too...
I have been so tired lately that I need the help..it just catches up with you and soon you have nothing to give which isn't fair to anyone...
I am loving Mr. Brooks he is such a wonderful person. His grandchildren came today and played his piano for us...that was so nice. Since we don't make it to church very often, it was nice to have that sweet spirit in the home of good music.... they are awesome.
Mr. Brooks has been up and down and I guess that is how it will be....he is always positive and he is an amazing example of how you should treat people and he see good in everyone...absolutely everyone.
Granny gave us a big scare, one of the antibiotics she was given plummeted her glucose count to below 50 and under 50 causes brain damage...I thought she was having a stroke..we had to take her to the emergency room and have test done, and get some sugar in her....she is fine now...back to hallucinating and talking to people at night that aren't there...she woke up yesterday and told me she ate a dog, chased a horse and made pies during the night.....see it can be very very interesting :)
Hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday and I will let you know how the hiring a caregiver is going ...lol! It's funny to think of me as a boss....

Wow What a Week....

Mr. Brooks was having bowel troubles, and we had to call the hospice to come out twice..not fun for him, not fun for us... :) I even gave my first enema, not as bad as it sounds... thank goodness :)

Granny gave us another scare, she was taking the generic version of Bactrim...well what we didn't know is it could lower her blood sugars...and so she got as low as you can without brain damage...scary thought considering she has dementia already...we pumped her full of sugar and thought she was okay, nope...the medicine had already done it's damage and last night during supper I thought she was having a stroke. So Sophie ran her to the emergency room...and after being there several hours they pumped her with i v's full of sugar water and she got better, and it was just low blood sugar..but it was scary. So we are taking her glucose count several times of day now, sure don't want to have that experience again.

So it's been a week, but everyone is doing great today...and except for being behind in cleaning...things are good....

many things going on

Well, Mr. Brooks has been up and down these few days, and I guess Granny was jealous because she decided to join him.
Mr. Brooks has had Bowel troubles..and they have made him very uncomfortable...and Granny is on an antibiotic that made her blood sugar plummet to the 50's....and that is very very low she scared us to death...and it took a bit of conversing with her doctor to figure it out...we are still watching her close...she just was basically in lala land in that she just couldn't get out of the twilight stage....and then this morning she had absolutely no energy and was just sinking to the ground...it was a crazy two days... :)

Anyone need a job

We are looking for a caregiver to work full time, part time, or weekends...they can be already trained and ready to go, or if they are willing to commit to work for us .... for a reasonable time we can help them obtain their caregivers license. It's really quite easy. We will be paying $10.00 an hour....it's very fulfilling work and there are a few beni's....

anyone interested or know of anyone...call us at 480-964-3508 or comment on this blog or email us at harper.homeplate@gmail.com

Also, if you want to come visit, entertain, read to someone, PLEASE..... we love having visitors, and more that we...Mr Brooks would love it and so would Granny Honor, but she won't visit much...she will read the paper :) That is what she loves ....


now for an update,
Mr. Brooks is doing great, he is eating 3 meals a day now and snacks.. he hasn't gained any weight but he looks much better. He feels good most the time but he gets lonely...which is natural. Of course, he has a bad day now and then...but we over all are doing great...he is such a nice person :)

Week end....

Just to let you know...we went to Whataburger for our anniversary...LOL....Lyle loves them..and since I couldn't get him anything...I could give him how we spent the evening..so afterwards we went to the park and watched a coed softball game...it was fun...and our sweet son came and visited with Mr. Brooks from 9 pm to whenever so we could go to sleep without worrying about anyone...our niece came and took care of Mr. Brooks and Granny while we went out. Granny was in bed when our son came. He did have to tell her around midnight that it wasn't time to get up yet....
Anyway, days run into each other working 24/7....you don't remember for sure what day it is always...and it doesn't matter whether it's the week end or not, everyday is the same...except on Sundays...we try to take it easy...still care for everyone but take time to sit and watch a movie, go to church when we can...etc.

Mr. Brooks is doing amazing...his appetites good, he can eat almost every meal, and when he can't he can always eat ice cream :) See what we have to look forward too...
He said the sweetest thing ever Saturday, when I checked on him in the AM and I asked him how he was feeling he said, He feels like he needs to do something to show the people he cares about that he loves them...he wants to give service to someone...if anyone needs a foot massage or back rub he would be willing to give one....he is so kind, always thinking about others. He is such a joy to have around...how can you not feel good when he has such a positive look on life. He has a terminal disease...he will never get better, but he can feel better and he works very hard at it. His family loves him very much...he has many visitors...and phone calls...he also has good friends...that come and see him about once a week at least. It says a lot about a person when they are not left alone, that their families love them and care for them.

I hope I can learn a lot from Mr. Brooks and become the kind of person people want to spend time with...even when I am in a home.... :)