Hello Mary Lu

I'd promised myself I'd attempt to write something at least a couple times a week here, in order to keep everyone posted. But it's not been on the top of my radar. Since I'm one of the major responsible people who is cares for an elderly parent, I've found its taxed me far more than I ever thought possible. At the moment Dr. Doug's Mom, E' isn't in need of constant 24/7 care now. But it wasn't that way for the past few months.

In late December E' fell in the kitchen after tripping over her feet. While she wasn't too worse for wear immediately after day it was apparent she'd done something to her back and an ER trip was in order. Word to the wise: Never ever go to Kaiser's ER on a Sunday night-- especially during flu season. I think I'd rather be hung my my thumbs and whipped before I ever do that again. Long story/short: After nearly 12+ hours in ER and encountering nurses who have the bedside manner of Attila the Hun, we find out she had broken her spine again. They put in her in a brace and sent her home with a bottle of pain killers. Lovely. The downside: She got exposed to the flu and can barely move. We give hand her over to her wonderful caregiver and go home to pass out. Things go okay until...

Exactly 5 days after her first visit to ER, she calls us and can't breath so we take her back to the ER-from hell. She was re-admitted to Kaiser's ER-- with pneumonia, BP and a host of other problems. All of these problems/symptoms caused from her exposure on Sunday in their ER waiting room. This time Kaiser admitted her to the hospital. Translation: This means Kaiser thinks you're really sick and can't send you home with a bottle of pills.

Without boring you to tears, over the next 30-45 days, we had her in two nursing homes (none near our home,) two times in Kaiser Hospitals, one time in another hospital (who was wonderful,) one EMT ride and nearly lost her twice. We finally got her home the beginning of February with in home caregivers 24/7, which is not covered by Kaiser. Someone had to go and check on her every day: Dr. Doug was working at his hospital, so that person was me. By the time we got E' back home, I was exhausted. I handed her off to the caregivers and said, Do what you need to do. Call me if it's an emergency. They took one look at me and sent me home. I slept for nearly three days.

In the past several weeks she's made great progress. She has done her PT and what we've asked of her. She is stronger now than she has been in a while. Now she's back to her primary caregiver, L', who's at home with her 5-6 days a week. We take the odd days and take her to dinner or for a show or get her out. A couple weeks ago we took her out to Palm Springs for a ride and to Sherman's Deli for a good deli dinner. She was shocked at how the desert had changed and when at Sherman's she like a kid in a candy store-- even the leftovers were a welcome delight. So much so she wants to go back out for a trip "real soon."

Last week E' celebrated her 80th birthday. In discussing it with her and L' we decided it should be a stretched out affair to celebrate her entry into the Octogenarian Club. On her day L' brought her a yummy birthday cake from Red Ribbon Bakery and some flowers. On this past Sunday we took her to La Parisienne a French Restaurant in Monrovia. Since E' loves French food and it was such a special occasion we thought it was a good choice to celebrate. Chef Dennis and company did a wonderful job to make the celebration both enjoyable and the cuisine memorable. If you've never had a chance to eat there-- DO. While we should have given the Birthday Girl the ladies menu, she found everything wonderful, once the shock-factor wore off.

We are still considering having a friends and family celebration. Now we just need to figure out how to surprise her. Suggestions?