As I mentioned in the post about Olivia's baby blessing my brother's and I were started to get concerned about my mom - her health - and her ability to care for herself. She was starting to be more forgetful and we knew she wasn't consistently taking her pills. On July 15th I took her to the doctor. We discussed her memory. She tends to forget things. For instance we told her that everyone was going to go to a movie on memorial day and that she probably wouldn't want to go. She does not like movies. Never has. Never will. But to our amazement she insisted on going. Over the period of a week or two we would all ask "Are you sure you want to go?" She would always say yes. So the night before Blake called and asked her again because he was going to go buy the tickets. Again she said yes. The next day everyone got together for breakfast (not me - I had just had Olivia less than 12 hours earlier) and got ready to go to the movie. She was very confused and said she didn't want to go to the movie and that she never said she wanted to. Blake took her anyway - he had already purchased the ticket - and as expected she hated it. On another occasion she came to babysit at our house while Steven and I went out with some friends that were in her ward. The next day I talked to my friend who said that my mom confided in her that she got lost on the way home and to not tell me about it.
So anyway - on to the doctors appointment. After blood work we learned how bad her blood sugar was (271 and that was fas- he wants it in 140's) - her other blood work didn't look great either. She also hadn't been taking her asprin that she takes to keep her form having another stroke. So the consensus from the doctor was that he would put her on insulin if necessary and that things needed to change NOW! She didn't want that and kept saying "I promise I'll be good!" She claimed she would exercise and stop living on a diet of slim fast - tootsie rolls - and toast. We had heard it all before. I told the doctor to give us some time so me and my brothers to figure out a plan to help her because if she wasn't taking her pills then there is no way she would give herself a shot. He agreed and said we had 3 months.
After the appointment I called my brothers and we set up a meeting to plan for mom's care. Then I came home to my cute kids and they all wanted to play on the swings.
As I pushed Sam and watched the other kids swing I couldn't help but think about the craziness of life (and my mom). Once upon a time she pushed me on the swings. She pushed Max and Elese on the swings. Now things were changing. It was time for me to start taking care of her. Then I realized that some day in the future these sweet little children are going to be worried about me - worried about whether or not I can care for myself. I took in this moment and really enjoyed seeing them play and being their mom while they are young and I am young. This is the prime of my life.
A few days later Blake - Spence - Eric and I got together to make plans. We talked to Evan before hand and filled him in afterward. There was a schedule made and plans put in place. I made a chart to fill out for her to eat and take her pills. Nicole was going to make sure she took her pills and fix her meals. Spence was going to work at her house a couple times a week. I would come clean and check on her every Friday - Blake would take her to his house for a sleepover every Tuesday night - Evan would call and check in every Tuesday and Eric would pop in on his way home from work at least once a week. So that is what we did...for the most part...for a little while... more on that later.
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