HostTracy

I want you all to know regardless of emotional whatever... I am so proud to be in my own place. This has been a long hard battle and I did it! Nothing will take that victory from me. All of the "other stuff" is just coming from my particular disabilities after my stroke... Don't worry I have not forgotten that I am a fighter and can kick some stroke butt lol. Janelle Kitty is still my point of solise. She's on my chest right now making biscuits 😊. Living by myself is opening the hidden doors I keep. There is a lot of quiet and my mind takes advantage. I think it is good. I realize so much that I have a lot of inner healing to do... Not just being a stroke survivor. It is exhausting, locking away emotional pain has only been a bad thing for me. I'm doing some spring cleaning...a very needed task. I just want to say I think so much of each of you. Positively an extension of my family. Haha see I'm a blubbering mess... I'm going through a very emotional sentimental time. I love you guys. ❤️

Well I am finally in my new home...well new for me. Still getting settled. I've met a very kind and smart doggie he is a chiwuawua. He comes to visit me if i'm outside at night sometimes. All I have to say is "Go home." and off he goes. My neighbors on the other side of the duplex do not like me i dont think. I had some issues with the parking situation when i first came. It is just one lady that lives there she is mentally challenged and requires assistance 24/7 so there are always at least 3 extra cars around the area. They were parking in front of my house and in front of the mailboxes. I don't do well on uneven surfaces so going to the mailbox was scary (on a hill). Anyway, I talked with my managing company and they told me everything was against the "rules" that we both signed in our leases and they would take care of it. They contacted the ladies' employer and when that didn't work they contacted their boss and then their bosses boss. The cars are no longer parking in front at all. I live at the end of a dead end street and have a full side (paved) for plenty of parking. Anyway, I don't think I am considered a great neighbor. oh well. I'm really very nice. For the first week my daughter stayed here with me as she waited to move into my room at dad's until i had the carpet cleaned. She said it was to help me unpack. I absolutely love my daughter but we press each other's buttons and are each other's triggers. We can make each other have a panic attack. I have slept here by myself for the past 3 nights and I have needed the rest mentally and physically. Kitty loves it here I think. She is playing with her squeaky mouse a lot and has 2 places to sit and sun and look out either the front or back window. I'm planning on getting her interactive puzzle things that she can play with and get a treat. She has become less active and her vet said she was a senior kitty. She is approximately 10 years old. She is my baby. I'm so glad we are here together. I went to see my Psychiatrist this week on Monday. I really needed to see him...everything cognitive has gotten worse and I have been having panic attacks often. I told him I feel it is all the stress of the last two months and the stress of the move or at least I hope. He talked to me for some time about the kind of stroke I had and everything I have noticed. He brought up a word for the very 1st time...and it is a word i am terrified of...Dementia. In 6 weeks when I go back and things have settled a bit he wants to do testing for cognitive and memory things. He wants to get a baseline. His concern is not that I can be diagnosed with that now but it is possible in the future. It's different from Lewy body dementia...alzheimers. It happens over a very long time...the changes...and usually not complete. He told me he has been to seminar recently on the very subject and what science says is that there has been a problem in the past with diagnosing this. Many have never been diagnosed until it was too late and an autopsy was being performed and they found the brain changes. The best thing to do is keep a watch...get a baseline and hopefully will never need to use it. He also said eat whole foods as much as possible, no boxed or manufactured stuff. Eat organic when you can. Reduce sugar intake...especially refined anything. The number one important and most helpful factor is some form of excercise about 30 minutes per day. No need to kill yourself but don't doddle either. Science says that is the #1 way to reduce your chances for cognitive decline. I already have cognitive decline so it is especially important for me. My stroke continues to leave me with a lot of cognitive deficits. It's a lot to think about. I'm trying to keep my mind busy and my body. I've been so tired. I'm trying to keep myself in check and get out of the house even for a little while. Reduce the urge to be alone. Believe it or not it is an urge. Life is exhausting to me. People are exhausting to me. Places are exhausting to me. Sounds are exhausting to me. Smells, sights, thoughts...everything sensory is exhausting to me. My urge is to avoid, but it is not what I should do. This is so frustrating. My house is perfect, however. Two bedrooms, a great kitchen, a patio out back, a porch, really cool shelves with doors located between the wall joists, a storage room you get to from the back outside, my washer and dryer fit but I do have to leave the folding doors off that normally closes the area. I'm glad mine are actually nice looking and compliment the decor. I'm going ahead and posting this unfinished blog. A lot has happened and I haven't been able to finish it.

http://www.strokechat.net/

Becky my anxiety is extreme and I'm glad I don't fixate on my hiccups because I would be insane by now lol. Since my stroke (BTW 4 years ago today 😊) I get the hiccups all the time! Like every time I eat or drink something. I think of it as more an annoyance than anything. In my local stroke support group there are many of them with the same complaint. A lot of them get hiccups way more than they ever did before. Also, my step-dad gets hiccups that won't go away every so often too. He has even been to the ER with them and they give him some sort of medicine. I think told him that he has a sensitive vasovagal reflex or something I don't know. I've heard the same thing though. I can imagine how it affects you.

Cinnamon!!! Believe it or not I remember hearing that ants do not like cinnamon. When I moved out of my dad's house I noticed a million ants under the big trash receptacle outside. I grabbed the big container of cinnamon my stepmom had gotten from Costco. I spread it over the entire area and tada the ants were gone the next day. 🙌 Sue that puts a new spin on adventure! I was overwhelmed and exhausted for you! 😅

http://www.strokechat.net/

Hey everyone! I'll see you at 3 pm EST for chat! I hope to see you there. 🙂 http://www.strokechat.net/

Nancy you are an inspiration!

Wonderful! 15 years is a celebration! 😊

Sue hang in there friend. I'm thinking of you. A electric blanket is possibly a great idea. I do the side Stepping on the stairs too holding on for dear life. My PT used to really fuss at me but my knees are shot and I have a stronger leg and a weaker leg. I have had to do what I have had to do. Thank you for the update.

http://www.strokechat.net/ See you guys in about an hour! Happy Monday!

Family dynamics are difficult.

I agree Heather. I will tell you that my dad and stepmom are very old school and my daddy is plain hardheaded. It won't just be suggesting it will be convincing and it won't be easy. My dad has told me, "Do not talk to your sister or tell her anything about any of this.". I can't be in this place and I told my stepmom I cannot do what they are telling me to do. She is Daddy's daughter, my sister, and her step daughter...and all the lies and secrets hurt her and me. I am completely in agreement with you. It would make me feel better. My stepmom takes these suggestions as saying she is incapable and she feels threatened.

Thank you Janelle. Thank you Asha...no worries at all and no toes stepped on. This is not anything I have been through before. I'm in a total different place in the scenario. Trust me I am trying so hard to pull from my own memories so I can be supportive. It kinda is yucky that I have a lot of memory loss but not total. So thank you... Any thoughts are welcome. ❤️

I can't sleep. Am I behaving wrongly to my dad and stepmom? My stepmom told me she wished things were just him and her with no kids involved. I love them both.

The past few days have been tense. My Dad and my Stepmom hold secrets. During this time when we all feel so lost and vulnerable and want/need transparency. When my Dad was in the hospital (Vanderbilt) and was told for the 2nd time "You have cancer" we were all (including all the Specialist and Doctors) so happy to hear "It's not metastasized lung cancer... It is altogether a different cancer". That is HOPE. Just that knowledge. My sister was at the hospital a lot. Not me, I was sick with strep throat and strokey as I call it. It's an hour drive. I'm glad I didn't go... I didn't know I had strep throat when he went to the ER. Vanderbilt is the most specialized hospital we have in Nashville. It's a research hospital and a University hospital. Vanderbilt University is known for their Med program and Vanderbilt Hospital is state of the art. Daddy's Oncologist team came up with a protocol they felt would give my Dad the best chances. He could even go to Spring Hill and get his treatments. It is just 30 minutes away. He had said he wanted to go back to the local cancer center which is not affiliated with Vanderbilt. My sister was so upset...she got into an argument with my Dad and he promised her he would go through Vanderbilt. (BTW I didn't know any of this happened for quite some time after he had been home). Daddy lied to my sister that night to stop the argument intending on going to the place locally all along. Janice my stepmom held his lie secret. I'm oblivious... It came to my attention one day when a therapist came and mentioned the local facility. I stayed at my moms for a few days and I talked to her about Daddy going to the local place that I thought he was going to the Vanderbilt facility in Spring Hill. My mom said he is he promised Tammy (my sister) and at that moment I realized I knew the lie I just didn't know it was a lie until right then. I stopped talking. I talked then with my Dad and Stepmom and asked them some hard questions. They told me and told me to not say anything to Tammy. 😞 This scenario is horrible for me. So my dad had his 2nd round of chemo this week and it has hit him hard! Then today we had the main OT come back for a reevaluation because my dad fell day before yesterday. Janice woke me up at 5 am and said you need to come help me. I went to the bathroom and Daddy was on the floor and couldn't get up and Janice couldn't get him up. He was sitting in a large area of liquid (urine) and his feet were slipping. I grabbed towels and a non slip rug so he could get his feet steady and then together it took me and my Stepmom like 20 minutes to get him up. He is on constant oxygen and had not taken it to the restroom. So I ran quickly and got his portable oxygen machine. We got him back to bed using a walker and he layed down and went to sleep. 😐 Then last night he was in the bathroom again without his oxygen and his O2 was so low that he couldn't think straight. He was going to fall and my Stepmom called me to the restroom. I said hold him if you can and I ran and got his portable oxygen device again. He kept saying I don't need that oxygen..when I got back to the restroom we got him onto the toilet and my Stepmom told me he still had to go. I by that time realized I was standing in a pool of urine. I had to help get his undies down because he couldn't and Janice couldn't. (BTW I'm completely OK with having had to help my dad get down to his birthday suit. He is my dad and I would only choose to help him. I don't think he remembers or he would be really bothered by it. I'm glad he isn't upset). Today while the OT was there I sat in the same room. He told her yes he fell because he feels weak but his air (oxygen) has been fine. I am very aware that this is not true and my Stepmom just said nothing so I told her the truth. She explained to my dad that he has to use the walker and his oxygen right now for his own safety. He started to argue but I said "Daddy do you want me to put the really long tubing on your oxygen machine?". He said he didn't like it because he gets tangled up in it. So I suggested that he take his portable oxygen device with him to bed each night it was light and that way he could easily switch cannulas when he needed to use the restroom. He could hang it on the walker and no long tubing would get wound around his legs. He said yeah I can do that. My stepmom then said "Well I haven't ever seen you get wrapped up or tripped by the tubing". He told her he has he just hasn't told her. She was looking at me or sorta glaring at me. I felt like she was angry at me...even though Daddy agreed with my idea. She then said well ill take that other walker and put it in the bedroom. The walker she is speaking of had been hers during her hyperparathyroid issue and after removal of 3 parathyroid lobes. She fell with that walker and it was really bent up. I had fixed it at the time for her she did not want to get another. I told her Daddy didn't need to use that walker. She said well so and so gave me that other walker your dad's been using. I then said well let's order Daddy his own. I'm thinking... 2 walkers in great shape one for each room. His insurance will cover it he has not had one ordered for him yet. She argued with me that no so and so had already given him a walker. I then just said "That walker that had been bent does not need to be used period. Daddy will have to put all his weight on it at some moments and it wouldn't be safe". I also walked back to the bedroom with my stepmom and said we have to clear this whole path from your bedroom to the bathroom to his chair. It has to be safe not a trip hazard. His bed only has like 7-8 inches from his side to the shelf on his side and past that is his big oxygen machine and then all sorts of stuff on the floor. (Remember - hoarder/collector) and the hallway has stuff on both sides. As you go into the kitchen there are cabinets and shelves with hundreds of cookbooks and glassware. It's very narrow in that area. I think Daddy had to turn himself and the walker sideways. I made a comment about what I felt we needed to do. She was coming unglued...yelling everything is fine. Then she said "I'll move the furniture". I told her she was in no shape to move big furniture period that I would get with Tammy and we would come up with a plan. At that moment she just taunted me that she was too going to move it that she had moved a lot of furniture. I just said not this time Janice. I had to go run errands. I also had to go to my sister's office and talk with her about what was going on. (BTW I told my sister what the lie was and she had said something to my stepmom yesterday. I didn't even get my foot in the door before both my dad and stepmom bombarded me with questions. Tammy and I g ad agreed not to say anything about me telling her... I have to live there. She didn't tell them they just naturally assumed. I played dumb and after about 10 minutes my dad said OK I believe you. So yeah its been a rough week). I talked with my sister about everything. I know that home health will evaluate that he is in a safe environment and that includes his ability to be free of trip hazards. If they don't comply, the risk that my Dad can be removed from an unsafe environment and put in a nursing home is high. I have also been worried about when I move out which should be this month. Will my stepmom have the physical or mental capacity to handle a fall like the other morning? Will it trigger in her to call 911? Will she just be there running around thinking "I don't know what to do"? Then tonight after my dad went to bed I sat down to talk with Janice. It turned into something really negative. I can't write anymore, I'm exhausted. Plus I have written a book. to be continued...

Oh Pam... So many hugsss my friend!!! I cannot even imagine how you are feeling. It breaks my heart to hear your cry. I am here for you no matter ever! I wish I could just pick you up and make everything better. You are in my prayers Pam. I see you...i hear you. ❤️🙏