Taking Care of Mom while Taking Care of Business!

Back in March and April, I wrote several posts about being with my mother-in-law during the last month of her life while she was in hospice. It was an amazing experience and I am so grateful I was able to share that time with her.

After her death, I was home for four days and then my 89 year old mom had foot surgery so I moved in with her for a week. Just a few days after I moved back home, she fell and hurt her back. It was misdiagnosed and after a few days of caring for her I called an ambulance. She ended up needing two separate major surgeries. (One surgery through her back and the other through her stomach.)

She has been in re-hab now for almost three weeks and was expected to go to a nursing home for three more months until she can start bearing weight and walking again. She chose to work hard to try to be able to go home and just have part-time help. That meant she needed to use her arms to get her wheelchair from her kitchen to her bedroom and bathroom and be able to take care of all of her personal needs including getting the refrigerator day open, then getting close enough in her wheelchair to get some yoghurt out to eat, etc. (Its amazing how many steps are involved in each little task that we usually take for granted.)

Tomorrow she gets to go home. I will be staying with her over the weekend, and we will figure out the weeks to come. I am amazed at how hard she has worked for this and I appreciate her can-do attitude! Both of my moms have been great role models for getting older. I am honored to be able to share their journeys….one completed, the other on a road back to independent living.

And I appreciate that I can work my Stampin’ Up! business around my life. I have been slower to implement some things in my business that I really want to do, but I know that those things will still happen. I will never get this time spent with my mom again. Being able to be “creative” in how I spend my time is as important to me as being able to be “creative” in crafting and business. (Of course, if my mom had internet access at her apartment, I could do more……there’s always something, isn’t there?)

Thanks, my friends, for reading this. You will never know how much I appreciate you!