That's the name of the play that Betsy is in this week at her school - "Overtures."  It is a student-directed on-act play and it was very good!  This is the last college performance she will be in.  It will be nice when she doesn't have to go to rehearsal every night!

A quick up-date on my mother - she had a vertebroplasty late today - where a cement-like substance is injected into the fractured vertebrae.  She should have pain relief and be able to begin rehab.  She is very weak and barely able to walk now.  She will go to a skilled nursing facility/rehab center when she is discharged from the hospital.

Tomorrow afternoon I have my first smocking class!  I can't wait!

It has been a difficult and stressful few days with my mother in the hospital in so much pain and with decisions being made for the best care for her.  The news as of today is that she will have a vertebroplasty, which is where a cement-like substance is injected into the fractured vertebrae.  That is what she had done the last time, and it enabled her to be free of pain and able to start rehab.  That is the plan now.  It is a tiny fracture this time, that usually heals itself, but it has been too painful for her, and is limiting her ability to be getting up and getting PT.

When I was at the hospital earlier, she was going to have PT and an MRI and more tests done today; hopefully the procedure will be done tomorrow.  Then she will go to a rehab floor of a nursing home, the same one she was in twice before.

In fact, this will be the 6th time I have had a parent go from the hospital to nursing home/rehab.  3 times for my father, all within one year, and that was about 6 years ago.  Now the 3rd time for my mother.  The only thing easier about this one is that she is familiar with it, but this time, I have to transport her myself.  Medicare will not pay for her to be transported - I lost that battle with Medicare the last time, remember?

So, we are waiting to see how things go this week and what happens next!  Meanwhile, this afternoon I babysat for Charlie, but only for a half hour - the other piano students had canceled their lessons for today.  Tonight I have my JAVAS sign language study group.

I got my main floor vacuumed today and my kitchen floor swiffered!  I thought that was a great accomplishment!  Just don't come over with a white glove. . .

I'm writing updates here because some people who read my blog know us personally - and many of you who read this have become such good xanga friends and really care about it all!

My poor mother is in so much pain.  She does have a compression fracture of one of her vertebrae - T 10, but it is small, and they aren't going to do a vertebroplasty right now.  They are going to manage it with pain meds and PT.  She still has the UTI, which we knew about before she went in the hospital, but she also has evidence of some heart failure now.  They are still running more tests.

Her doctor, who, as I mentioned, is a friend of ours, said, "Well, Donna, as you well know,  she will not get out of bed or do anything as long as she can stay in bed and be taken care of.  Try to encourage her to cooperate with PT when they come."

He's right - my mother is not one to make too much effort.  Usually, they have to call me to come and give her a lecture whether she is in the hospital or rehab.  But, when I got to her room, she was in so much pain that I couldn't give her a lecture.  She looked pitiful.  I'm out of lectures.  I just want her to be pain-free.

Then, the social worker came and wants to know if we want to reserve a skilled nursing bed or will she be going back to assisted living.  How do I know?  She has only been in the hospital 24 hours.

She slept and I left.  I went to her apt and took the clean clothes I had washed last week.  And I had asked yesterday if they would open the windows and air it out since she usually keeps it at about 150 degrees in there!   Ok, that's a little bit of an exaggeration.  Anyway, it was nice and clean and fresh in there.  Who knows if she'll be going back.

Then I went to the new yarn store in town and they were having a sale, and I bought some pretty blue and white yarn to make a lap blanket for my mother for wherever it is she goes from the hospital.

And it is a beautiful, sunny, rather warm day here, but sooooo windy!!!

When my mother kept getting worse, the doctor called this morning and told me to take her to the hospital.  She is now all settled in a room and getting excellent care!  I am sooooo relieved!  She was going downhill fast.  And when she is in the hospital, I do not spend much time there.  First of all, it is the only time in my life I don't have to manage her care.  Second, she does SO MUCH better when I am not there.  My husband is there and he can check on her.  So, I went to her apt, packed her up, got her to the hospital where it took awhile to get her admitted and then I stayed until the nurses and doctors evaluated her and needed any info from me.  She is in so much pain that even the ride to the hospital was difficult for her.  Then I had a really quick lunch with Jim and came home to babysit for Charlie.

Me - to Jim - "Should I come back tonight or go to smocking guild?"
Jim - "No, don't come back.  I'll check on her before I leave.  Go to smocking guild."

There you have it!  I have such a feeling of relief that she is getting the best possible care.  Her doctors are friends of ours and the nurse I left her with was delightful and caring.

I have a headache, though. . . .

The weather was beautiful here today - in the 60's - so Charlie and I went outside to play.  He played with his ball some of the time -

and picked up sticks -

and enjoyed the warm weather!

Minuette was outside too, but on her run -

But Charlie wasn't sure how close he wanted to get to her -

My mother's x-ray of her back, according to the nurse - I haven't seen an official report - was that there is no fracture.  But the nurse called me mid-day today to tell me she was very sick and to call the doctor.  So, I did, but didn't get a return call back yet.  But then when I went over there at dinnertime, she was up in her chair and eating a little bit.  Maybe when the antibiotic has had a chance to work, she'll feel better.  She does, however, still have a lot of pain in her back, so I'll check in with the doctor tomorrow.

This evening, I went over to my friend Gina's house - she is one of my study group friends - and we watched an ASL fingerspelling DVD - an ADVANCED fingerspelling DVD, where the Deaf signer signs at "Deaf speed!" 

Oh, and the cutest thing - I had gotten some children's signing videos called "Sing, Say, and Sign" from the library and Charlie had watched some yesterday.  When he came over today, he signed the word SIGN to me and went right over to where the videos were!  His sign vocabulary is very good!

We had a nice day yesterday, for the most part, for Jim's birthday.  After church, our pastor and his wife had invited 5 couples to their house for a rather formal lunch to celebrate!  We knew we were doing something with some friends after church, but we didn't know what a lovely lunch we were going to have.  I didn't have my camera, so you'll have to take my word for it!

In the middle of the night, the night before, though, my mother had fallen and seemed ok, but as the day went on, on Sunday, she seemed to be feeling worse and worse.  So, I spent a lot of the time at lunch getting phone calls from the assisted living facility.

Today, I got a doctor's appt for her, because she had symptoms of a UTI as well as some pain in her back.  So, that's what I did for most of the day.  And my mother had been in bed since Saturday night, so she was weak and not inclined to put forth much effort; in fact she really wanted to go to the hospital so that she would be taken care of.  However, there was no reason to go to the hospital - she is on an antibiotic and strict instructions to drink, drink, drink, because she was very dehydrated.  They ordered an x-ray for her back, which continues to hurt, so I am working on getting that arranged by Wednesday at the latest.  It was all I could do to get her from car to wheelchair; on the way back, I had to be quite firm with her and practically lift her into the chair.  Why is it she just won't try to do anything for herself when I am there?  Does she like the reversal of roles? - she waits until I have to assume my parent voice before she will move.  I wish I knew what that is about.

Oh, well, I checked on her tonight and she was feeling better but still with back pain.

But Charlie was here this afternoon and he perked me right up!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, Jim, who is 56 today!

We had a meeting of our missions committee at the home of Pam and Steve on Friday night.  Here is Steve, who made us a taco buffet!

I hadn't yet seen their remodeled kitchen.  It is lovely!

This next picture is of Pam, with David, and then others are of other members of the committee -

This one has Jim -

Jim's birthday is tomorrow, and so we had a cake for him as our dessert -

Earlier in the day, I had Charlie here for 4 hours while Amanda took her 3 hour glucose test to see if she has gestational diabetes.  She had failed the short one, but we think it might have been because she had been sick.  She didn't have the results back yet by the end of the day Friday. 

But Charlie and I had a good time!

Here he is looking at some pictures of his mommy - some of them were when she was quite young!

He has had a cold, and the morning was getting long for him.  A little restful time watching his favorite Veggie Tales made him content -

Jim and Betsy and I were invited to a dinner/fundraiser/auction tonight by our friends Pam and Steve.  It was to raise money for ICCD - International Christian Center for the Deaf, which works with the Deaf in Mexico, Haiti, Cuba, and the Philippines.  We had a great time - sorry, no pictures!

I arrived home to a phone message from the assisted living facility - my mother had fallen again while she was walking in the hall.  They said she is fine, and they didn't call me on my cell, so I guess she is, and I'll have to wait until tomorrow to check on her.

Sunday evening, Jim and I went to church to hear one of our missionaries talk about his work in many African countries teaching and training pastors.  From there we went to Kip and Joan's house.  Kip is Jim's brother, and they live just a few minutes away from us.

The guys grew up in western PA, and are die-hard Steelers fans.  Here is Jim in his Steeler colors -

Here is Kip -

and Joan -

and their son, Joshua -

Kip was the cook.  He wanted to try a recipe for Jambalaya that he got from a friend of his, and he used some of our moose sausage in it as well as shrimp.  It was good!

And he grilled some of the moose sausage for Jim to have a sort of bratwurst sandwich.  I don't have a picture of that but Jim sure enjoyed it!

Here's what we were watching!

I thought this was cute of Joan with the cats on the chair with her -

Then in my other news, I got a doctor's appt for Betsy this morning as her throat was still hurting so badly and it has been 2 1/2 weeks, even with all the other viral symptoms.  She has Coxsackie virus.  The doctor looked at her throat and didn't have to even think twice.  Betsy had blisters and ulcers in her mouth and throat.  Who knew?  I never heard of it before!  She is on a short course of steroids for a few days and she will be fine.  She is not even contagious anymore.  Just in pain!

Tonight, my JAVAS study group started up again.  We have chosen a curriculum to work on together and we are pretty much going to be teaching ourselves ASL level 5, using some DVD's and workbooks, and practicing a lot!

I started knitting a dishcloth during the Super Bowl - I told Joan to pick out a pattern and yarn choice and I would make her one.  Between the game and the doctor's visit today, I am about 2/3 finished.  I'll get a picture of it when I am done.