aaTHE LOWE FAMILY
NEWSLETTER VOLUME
78 SEPTEMBER 2012
Dear Readers,
I know this issue is long overdue and I greatly appreciate
that no one has pressured me into producing
it – not even my greatest and probably only fan, Ming Jon. I sadly
suspect that some of my children may not have read one for several years. With
the exception of Kay, Blake, and Claudia these letters may be the only link to
Grandma for my future grandchildren. I'm losing my bloom and many of my
childrens reproductive organs are going to be wilting on the vine very soon.
Late last month Coryn and Josh staged a family intervention
over dinner on a Monday evening. I was informed that I needed a break from
caregiving and was told to take off for the upcoming weekend - with longer breaks to be built in. I
protested that I couldn't possibly be expected to fly anywhere on such short
notice as Labor Day weekend loomed. Coryn suggested a visit to my friends back
in Fort Madison. I balked. No-one would be around, surely everyone would be
visiting or entertaining their own families. I was ordered to call Becky. Much
to my amazement she was planning a quiet weekend at home working on her quilts
so she said it would be a perfect weekend to invade her peace and quiet. Next I
called Mary and she was also going to be home and on down the list I went. The
only friend not in town was Evelyn who was visiting John and family in
Minnesota. I announced that I would drive over on Friday and return Monday.
I was told that this was not a long enough break so it was
arranged that I would fly to LA to stay with Marc at the end of the month: this
is considered a break? Sean and Bryn have suggested that I call Marc and order him to hire Merry Maids before I arrive
as they claim that I will not be able to use his bathroom in it's present
state. Sean said he had to disinfect it when he was there a couple of months
ago: worrying because Sean's condo looks like a
petri dish to me. I have to fight the urge to clean every time I visit.
Next I learned that Leslee was planning on flying in from
her birthday weekend in Chicago to help me with Norm for a week. She was
amazing – she shopped for groceries, did all the cooking and even cleaned! It
was great to have her help to haul your dad down to KUMed for lab work. For
days I was able to stay out in the yard for as long as I needed to without
having to carry the baby monitor or keep running into the house to make sure
your dad was okay.
With only three days to prepare for my trip back to Fort
Madison I had to scurry. It took me a whole day to leave instructions regarding
the care of Norm with his numerous medications, the visiting nurse schedule
and his catheter care. It took me even
longer to search for my weekender suitcase which I finally realized must have
been “borrowed ” by one of my children. I ended up packing all my stuff in a
laundry basket. Maybe that was what precipitated all the rain for my trip.
As you all know this has been one of the hottest and driest
summers on record but on Friday, September 30th, the day of my trip, the heavens opened and rained down
on me for the entire drive home. I was so looking forward to popping my Ford
Focus moon roof, sporting my movie star sunglasses and using
cruise control that I can't use in Kansas City traffic. Instead I found
myself with my foot frozen to the gas pedal, my eyes straining to see (despite
my bifocals) through torrential rain bursts and blinding spray from passing
semi's - the drive was a washout. It
took me about four and half hours to reach Becky's house.
Becky and I had dinner at
one of down town Fort Madison's newest restaurants. Some one has done a
fabulous job of restoring the old Lee County Bank building on the corner of
Avenue G and 8th Street. Unfortunately the food was not as good as
the building restoration but I hear that their pizza is probably better than
their pasta dishes so next time......
Becky tried to do some hand stitching on one of her
beautiful quilts that evening as I kept her talking well past her bedtime,
keeping ourselves well fueled with endless cups of tea. Her dog Ellie spent the
entire weekend in my lap. It was a treat to just sit without having to jump up
all the time to take care of something.
I awoke on Saturday morning to the delicious aroma of made
from scratch blueberry muffins fresh from the oven. Becky had slept in until
six that morning after heading to bed around midnight! I was still asleep of
course.
That day we had lunch with Sherry and Myrna at the Ivy Bake
Shoppe and it was lovely to see Sue behind the counter, although I know she
would love to be out from under it right now. Frankly she is the Ivy so without
her beautiful smile and warm welcome it won't be the same. Hopefully she will
find the right person to take over soon so that she will have the freedom to
enjoy the adventures in life yet to come.
After lunch we enjoyed a visit with Bonnie Howard at the
book store where I found some fun books for Mia and Drew whom I was looking
forward to playing with the next day. Sue Dunlay happened by and we enjoyed an
impromptu visit exchanging news about
all our kids. From there I found myself
driving to Burlington with Becky who needed to shop . Once again I drove in
driving rain confused by the changes since the bypass opened.
We arrived at Target and unexpectedly met up with Mary and Elizabeth in the toddler
aisle!Becky was picking up items for her grandson's upcoming visit as she felt
she needed to baby proof her house. Mary offered her a spare car seat so that
was a great perk of our accidental meeting. We had already planned to get
together on Sunday.
That night Becky insisted on cooking a delicious salmon
dinner for us. We spent another quiet evening with our tea cups with me
switching to wine as the night grew long. Poor Becky couldn't join me as she
was taking some medications for her back pain in addition to a recent shot of
cortisone. Being a kind and considerate friend I reminded her of the need to be
in great shape for our upcoming literary tour of English gardens where the
ability to walk miles and climb like a mountain goat will be a necessity.
Late Sunday morning I visited Jan Bindewald, my friend from
our weeks of radiation together in Iowa City. This gave Becky a chance to work
on her quilts until I returned and we decided to try the lunch buffet at Pizza
Hut. From there we went out to FMCH to walk off lunch on the new indoor walking
track which circles around inside the
new physical rehab building. Brent said it was even nicer than the facility at
KuMed. It was very impressive.
After our laps around the track we headed to Mary's house
for a visit , enjoying the peace of her screened in porch amidst all the trees
and later we sat in the kitchen watching Mary whip up a batch of squash and
potatoes which she was taking to Elizabeth and Brent's house as her
contribution to the dinner we were all invited to enjoy there.
I fell head over heels in love again with my beloved Mia and
Drew. I was soon playing the role of Mia's big sister who needed to eat a landfill's
worth of pretend food. Drew almost gave me a heart attack as he scaled the
paint easel and almost slid off the top. That boy needs lead boots to keep him
from climbing everything like a monkey.
Dinner was delicious and Elizabeth loves to decorate so the
table was beautifully set. She remarked in the kitchen that she loved to grill
too but I noticed that Brent was manning the barbecue loaded with shish kabobs
! They have stunning views of the town and river and have done a lot of
projects to update the house. Her living room has gorgeous new furniture with a
stunning rug. I greatly admired the new drapes too. I'll be anxious to see all
the changes to come as well.
Monday morning I left Becky to her quilts so that she could
hopefully have them ready in time for an
upcoming quilt show and I stopped to visit Bonnie and Gary on my way out of
town. They greatly enjoyed looking at Coryn's wedding photo's as they had not
been able to attend – and yes I did pull them out and invite every one to look
at them through out my visit .I feel as if my status has been greatly elevated
by succeeding in finally getting another child married off. Just five more to
go.
Once I returned home and the whirlwind week with Leslee and
her support was over your dad had appointments with his urologist and
neurologist. Due to his constant urinary tract infections and painful bladder
spasms it was decided to place his catheter directly into the bladder through
the abdominal wall in hopes that this would be more comfortable for him. This
out patient surgery took place on September
20th and went well but he has been more confused and less
able to walk even a few steps with his walker. I hope it helps as the urologist
said there was no possibility of his ever being able to void by himself again.
Kudos to Josh for volunteering to wake up at 4:30am to get us to KuMed by 5:30
am. He left work early to bring us home as well. That was a great help as I was
unable to get to sleep any earlier than usual the night before. I functioned
pretty well on four hours of sleep but looked worse than your dad.
Once home his appetite was amazing. No post anesthesia nausea at all. I gave him
jello as recommended on the discharge sheet but he demanded soup with noodles
so I gave in and made him a bowl with crackers on the side. Coryn came by after
work to check on him: he immediately invited her to dinner and suggested
Chinese take out. He was soon pouring over a menu that Coryn had given him a
few days ago. He had circled, underlined and check marked lots of dishes he thought he would like to try– he can't
remember whether he had hip or shoulder surgery most of the time but he sure
knows where the Singapore Noodles are listed on that menu! We ordered enough
dishes to ensure that I would not have to cook for days.
His neurologist had looked over the weekly blood pressure
recordings that I fax him and decided to rapidly ramp up your dads medications.
Your dad is swallowing fistfuls of pills numerous times a day , and at first I
thought there was some improvement but these last few days he has lost ground
again.
Next week I will be flying to LA – I just hope that the state of Marc's condo
and his idea of entertaining mother – he mentioned that I could shampoo his
carpet for him – will not have me flying home on my broomstick cackling like
the Wicked Witch of the West. I hope to be spell bound by my drive down Rodeo
Drive in Marc's BMW convertible, by walks on sandy beaches and dinners at ritzy
restaurants. I'm sure Marc already has reservations, wine and cheese in his
well stocked kitchen and of course plenty of time for shopping with his plastic
for my sure to be necessary redo of his condo.
Love from your always bewitching Mother.
