Yay excitement

Yesterday was a day, much like any other. After my lack of sleep night, I did have to actually do quite a bit of Smith work - including two times when I needed to be actually not at home.

The first went swimmingly - I went down primarily to make sure that the kiosk and the computer were talking - the nano bridge lost connectivity again. While I was trying to figure out which end had gotten confused, I noticed that a poster had been put up in the window - effectively blocking the Line of Sight necessary between the two nano bridge device thingies. Sigh. Got that handled, rebooted or reset the nano bridges and voila! Presto! Abracadabra! It worked.

The second, fine as well - Kelly and I had our weekly meeting to talk about the week's events, the month's events, next month's events, etc. After that I headed to the grocery store. In total, gone for a about an hour and a half. As I came down the hill to my house I saw what I always dread to see - an ambulance sitting outside our house. When I got inside, two policemen and two EMTs were there talking with my mom. They had been there about 10 minutes - about how long my drive from the grocery store to my house is (especially with Pulteney street being closed to through traffic by the colleges - grrrrr). I had two calls on my phone - neither of which had registered on my consciousness - I don't listen for my phone when I am driving - one from the Geneva Police - one from Bosey - both letting me know that mom had called 911 because she didn't know where she was. Joy and rapture.

So, she is ok - I think she was thrilled with all the attention from big strapping guys. She was more than a little disappointed when they all left. (One reason why I think she might be better in assisted living - maybe more social interaction.) (Yes, I have looked into day care for her - $150 for 4 hours - yup, that'll happen). Sadly, Karl (my brother) had called at some point and left a message - for some reason (could be any number of them) she hadn't picked up. That would have mitigated things I think. Anyway, it happened and life goes on. I just hope I don't get another $300 bill from the ambulance company just because they showed up at the door. But I will, I am sure.

Months and months ago, I bought a phone for mom's bedroom, that is designed to let her make calls by clicking on a picture - but if she doesn't recognize people in pictures, not sure that will help. It does, though have the feature of programmable buttons - which it turns out I can't do on my phone because it is VOIP and not regular phone service. Sigh. I need to find a regular phone line and program the phone on that - according to the nice man with the British accent I woke up this morning - why he answered his tech support line when he was still asleep is anyone's guess...apparently the phone has some flash memory in it and I can program it anywhere and then plug it into mom's phone line in her bedroom. Until that gets sorted - no phone for mom when I am not here.

It was nice talking with Bosey! Mom spoke with her for a few minutes - which was a smidge heartbreaking.

Thank you all who read this blog - thank you for those who comment here and on Facebook, send me private messages etc. I am about to start down the road of more professional care for mom - what form that will take is anyone's guess at this point - more in home care, maybe placement in a "memory care" unit of an assisted living place. I just don't know. This afternoon I am calling our lawyer to find out what I can from him. Monday I have an appointment with mom's GP. And after I speak with him, I am going to look into the assisted living place here in Geneva. I am also going to talk with the people who provide my aide and see if they have other staff and offer more professional in home care. Yippee!

Meanwhile, I have to be at the Smith three times today - not for a long time each time - but at least an hour at least once. First time to meet a potential new worker and to do some set up for an event tonight. Then tonight, meet with my staff member and the event host to get them off on the right foot. And then back again to help with a  discussion/talk back after the movie. The later two times I hope to only be gone for an hour or so each time. How much trouble can mom get into in an hour? Usually none at all - but sometimes...