When I went out to see Mom today she was awake and alert, sitting out in dining room for lunch. She was non verbal, but responsive with body language. She let me feed her lunch. Boy, you should have seen the faces she made when I first gave her the milk with the Thick-It in it! I sang a bit to her, which was probably more for me than her given that I wasn't singing very loud and it is difficult for her to hear. Her arms are red and marked right now. One of the nurses whom I trust thinks that Mom has been scratching them. The do look like 'old lady arms' that I've seen frequently in nursing homes and such. She says that Mom has been on an antibiotic for a UTI recently and she thought that the itching might perhaps be related to that. I mentioned to Mom that we talked about her in church this morning. She gave me the "Who me?!" face. I told her that we had sung Amazing Grace while thinking about her and asked if she remembered that song. She nodded. When I left I told her I loved her, as always, and asked if she loved me too. She nodded! Praise be. Sometimes you're given just what you need.

And on the way home, the lyrics to "Somebody's Hero" kept running through my head. Here's the tail end of it.

<......>
Thirty years have flown right past
Her daughters' starin' at all the photographs
Of her mother, and she wishes she could be like that
Oh, but she already is

She's somebody's hero
A hero to her mother in a rockin' chair
She runs a brush through her silver hair
The envy of the nursing home
She drops by every afternoon
Feeds her mama with a spoon
And that smile lets her know
Her mother's smile lets her know
She's somebody's hero

Hi Anna,

I'm glad you had such a nice visit with your mom and that she was able to tell you she loved you. Amazing how those little things mean so very much now. It is a strange place to be, I still feel like everything is somewhat surreal surrounding my mom.

Thanks again for all the info. you suggested. I choose several questions you told me to ask to ask at each phone call, plus many others. They will all know me down there, that's for sure.

Loved the lyrics to that song, oh choked me up, course anything does these days.

Have a great day,

~Kelly~

Aw I'm glad your visit went well!

Could your mom be allergic to her antibiotics? I get really itchy when I take sulfa antibiotics becaue I'm really allgeric. I'm 100% pure penicillin LOL!

The song lyrics are really nice!

Kat

Oh Anna what beautiful lyrics. It really hits home to hear them. I don't know if I'm her hero, but she certainly is mine.

I'm glad your visit with Mom went well, and she nodded to you when asked if she loved you. That's all we really need at times to get us through our days.

My Mom is not on any antibiotics, but I have to say that her arms get that way many times. And of course you may want to still check out if it could be from the medicine. Maybe when you go to visit her, bring some really good lotion with and after she eats, rub her arms with that. Their skin gets very dry and thin, and much more suseptible to itching. Keri lotion is suppose to be really good for that, although on my Moms I use any lotion that has cocoa butter in it, and it seems to do the trick for her.

jackie