Today I am grateful for my health, and I am grateful for strong genes that run in the McDevitt family. I got Mom home from the hospital yesterday afternoon, and she is good to go. We had to stop at Target to get her meds, and the plan was that I would drop her off at the door and then park the car and meet her at the door. But she felt she could handle getting her meds by herself, so I waited outside the door with the car. It seemed like a good idea, and she told me it went just fine. However, after I got her home and we went through her pantries to determine which foods should get thrown and replaced with healthier alternatives, I could tell she was tired. She had to sit down a few times. At that point, I questioned why I let her walk through Target alone. Thank God nothing happened. I keep thinking my mom is stronger than she actually is at this point. But she and I know that she will get stronger. She plans to resume her walking at the mall today, increasing her time each day, and she hope to pick up yoga and then her strength class in the next few weeks. Good goals to set. She is feeling MUCH better now than she has felt in quite some time, she admitted yesterday.
Going through their pantry with her and Clarence made me realize that there might be some resistance to changing their diet. I can’t figure out if it is based on the fact that they buy everything in bulk and so the cost to throw/donate and then replace items would be spendy. There are probably 12 cans of chicken broth that need to go, and all the canned veggies I suggested they rinse before eating, and from now on, buy no sodium canned veggies. And the sourkraut that she isn’t supposed to have (the dietitian said maybe once a year), well, they have five large jars in their pantry. And as we went through the foods, Clarence said, we don’t eat very much of that. But the point is, the amount that they do eat is what is bad for them. That’s why Mom is in this predicament.
And as we were reading the symptoms for congestive heart failure, I said to Mom that Clarence exhibits many of these symptoms as well, and so I suggested he get in for a check-up as well.
I realize we are entering that stage in life where there will be more care given to our parents, and I am very glad to be able to do this, after all the support they gave us, growin up and then as we raised our kids.
Feeling grateful today.