November 30, 2018. Madison, Mississippi. My List.

Christmas is coming and my list is long. We go to Mexico and my list is long. If I am not careful I become anxious. Last evening Ken just told me he was feeling good and he asked about me. So I told him about my long list and my anxiety, which made him not feel so good. I should keep my issues to myself. Today I made progress with my list. Today, Keshina dropped me off at the Dollar Store so I could shop to fill the bags for the grandchildren. Next, back home, I filled small bags for the Texas family. And we took the five bags to the PacMail store. I love that place. They package up the items to ship, all in a safe and secure way. Then they send the box via a courier. On Wednesday we took camera equipment to them to be shipped to Samantha. Ken no longer is able to use his fancy cameras and lens so we sent everything to Samantha, who it turns out is a wonderful photographer. The PacMail protected the objects where I would have trouble. No fuss or muss. They measure and weigh the object. I pay them, and I leave. The whole thing takes 5 minutes of my time. Wonderful service. Actually, it might be called MailPac. Every time I use their services I feel I should hug their neck. Now I must organize the Mississippi family bags. But I discovered today that I have nothing to give to Christina or Molly. Oops. My list just got longer. Today I made an appointment for Ken to have his hair cut and beard trimmed. And I again texted Adrianna in Mexico who is our contact to get helpers for us. And I need to ask her to find us a bed rail. My list includes refilling our medications for our 6 weeks in Mexico. And I must organize our clothes. We have clothes in our locker at the condo but I have no idea what we left for Ken. We do not wish to check baggage so we must pack light, using only our small carry on bags, which in Ken's bag is half full of medicines. I must confirm the number for our party on December 8 and take a cheque to the yacht club. So I am making progress. And the next time I will keep my list to myself. I overwhelmed Ken which serves no purpose. I am feeling better about my list.

November 29, 2018. Madison, Mississippi. BSF.

I have rejoined BSF. I have not attended for a year or so but I decided that I needed more activities in my life. Linda Creath has been keen to have me come back and has agreed to bring me home. Actually, I only attended for a few Thursdays. First I had no one to drive me and next my cancer returned so my immune system was shot. Now my white cells are 7 so I am safe to get out into the world. Kashina drove me this morning and Linda brought me home. So the system will work. BSF stands for Bible Study Fellowship. It is a national organization. Changes were made with their routine so now we go straight to our own group upon arrival. Then we meet in the auditorium to sing a hymn and listen to a talk. The course of study is set by the main office and lessons are given out each week. It is all well organized. My group is interesting too. The leader is Dana, and we are 10 ladies in the group. Even though we are studying the Bible, we learn a lot about the ladies during our time together. The age group is 50 to 80. One member of our group id a bible scholar, which pleases me because a bible scholar I am not. But I will learn, which is the whole point. One lady will be going to Las Vegas this weekend. Her niece is competing to become Miss Rodeo Queen of America. She already is Miss. Rodeo Queen for Mississippi. Who knew? You learn attending bible study!!

November 28, 2018. Madison, Mississippi. November 11, 1946.

On November 11, 1946, my father wrote in my autograph book. Someone must have given me one and I had everyone I knew write a note. I continued the practice for several years. Then I quit. Autograph books went out of fashion. At some point, I threw it out but I removed the sheet my father wrote along with one written by a Colonel Grinstead when he visited us in Vancouver. My fathers hand writing was terrible, which is part of the charm. Also he forgot one line of the poem so was forced to tuck the missing line squeezed between two others. I have no idea where the poem comes from but I think it is charming. A few months ago I came upon the paper in my old writing case and decided to bring it out to the light of day. Today we picked up the poem framed. Now it will be hung just beside the door to our powder room so everyone who visits us would get to see it. Except my fathers writing is a scrawl and not easy to read. Here is what he wrote to me: Darling Ruth:- 11/7/46 Do good sweet maid and let who will be clever. Do noble deeds don't dream them all day long. And so - make life & the vast forever one glad sweet song. Daddy. I wonder what my father would have thought about my life? Unfortunately he died before any success we had. Now I am thrilled to have his message to me on my wall. And I hope the grandchildren will see it too. Nifty.

November 27, 2018. Madison, Mississippi. Changes.

We were too slow to change our routines. The first time Ken rolled out of the bed we should have installed a railing for the bed. What were we thinking? Three times it took plus one serious fall from the chair before we changed our patterns. Now the rail has worked and Ken has not fallen out of the bed since. The question we ask is why did he all of a sudden start rolling out of bed and end on the floor? One reason may be that his Parkinson's disease has gotten worse. Or perhaps the new diuretic he has been taking recently caused him to loose his sense of space. His feet and legs were swollen so our doctor prescribed an additional medication, which has worked. But he rolled out of bed. Today we went to an evaluation of swallowing at the University. The facilities and staff at the University Hospital are remarkable and extensive. This morning we met with a speech therapist who is also an expert in swallowing. She had Ken swallow water. And she watched and held his throat. And she watched him swallow chocolate pudding. Her suggestion to Ken was to slow everything down. Every time he takes a sip on the straw, he is supposed to wait. Then take another sip. His pattern has always to take three or four sips on the straw. Fortunately, he aspirated some water in the middle of the test, which was good. She wants him to have an X-ray of his swallowing so we have an appointment on Dec. 17. One appointment always means another appointment will need to be done. Ken commented to the young lady that he would take all day just eating and drinking. Most of Ken's patterns are fine. He already eats slowly and often eats at the table alone while I sit in the living room adjacent to the breakfast room. So once again, Ken must make changes. Our helpers are changing too. Mary Brown will stay with us from 9 to 9 on four nights and Kashina will stay the other three nights. Their task is to be sure that Ken does not fall. Ken has a good sleep last night and so did I. Our patterns have changed once again. We should have made changes earlier I guess. But here we go.

November 26, 2018. Madison, Mississippi. Night Helper.

Ken has fallen four times in the last ten days. Falling is the most common problem with Parkinson's patients but Ken has only fallen twice since he was first diagnosed in the Fall of 2014. Something odd has happened. Now he sleeps with a bed rail. On the Saturday afternoon after his fall, I asked Ken is he thought we needed a night helper, but he said no. By Sunday afternoon he changed his mind. He is fearful of falling and so am I so I called Cindie who owns the company to see if the could find night helpers for us. And she did. Gladys came to work last night and I asked her to sit in the TV room while we slept so she could assist Ken getting up and down. But Ken had a terrible night. He barely slept. He hated having someone watching him as he was going asleep so he has asked me not to have the night sitter watch him from the TV room. Gladys, who was here last night, will not be coming back. In her place tonight is Mary Brown, who I like a lot. And Kashina will work three nights too. We hope we will keep Ken safe. Ken and Kashina thing that Ken will recover quickly from his fall and that soon we will not need a night helper. We will see. In the meantime, I hope to be able to sleep myself. Last night I woke up whenever Ken got up which was about every hour. At the moment, the night sitter will work from 9 to 9. Kashina works from 9 to 4. We should be OK. Ken looks a wreck. His eye is black and swollen and he has an abrasion on his forehead. He hurts all over. We just might take our Christmas card picture right now. The worst part of the falls have been his confidence. And he is weak. But next week we go for an evaluation with a physical therapist. We hope they will take him on as a client. Tomorrow he goes to a therapy to help him with swallowing. He is trying to get better. Ken hopes our night helper will be temporary. But we will see. In the meantime, I hope tonight we both get a decent night sleep, with the help of Mary.

November 25, 2018. Madison, Mississippi. 11 Years Old.

Fine And Dandy was the restaurant selected by Molly to celebrate her 11th birthday. Ken was not able to attend the celebration but we brought food home for both Ken and Kashina so they were not totally left out. The restaurant serves hamburgers but it is a long way from being a burger joint. It is fancy. And Molly likes it, especially the milkshakes which are spectacular. So we celebrated in style. When Kate was 11, Ken and I gave her a shopping spree. Molly remembers hearing about that first shopping trip for Kate at age 11, so when she opened her gift bag from us and discovered the card included a shopping trip she was thrilled. Last Christmas, she accompanied us when we shopped with Kate and Mary Frances and she liked the whole thing so now next Saturday Christina, Molly and I will go shopping at the Renaissance. She already knows what stores we should go to. And she is going through her wardrobe to see what she will want to try on. For the past two years we have done will with our purchases for Kate and Mary Frances with their Christmas shopping because of the sales. There will be no big sales just before Christmas. But we will enjoy ourselves. Kashina will come on Saturday to stay with Ken while we go out and have fun. Molly like all other tall people is tall for 11 years old. She is my height so fitting her will not be easy. She must shop in teenager stores because the children clothes do not fit and often the teen clothes are not appropriate. She has good taste as does Christina so I feel sure she will end up being pleased with her selections. We will then celebrate by going out for lunch. Saturday December the 1st will be the day. She can't wait. Being 11 is exciting.

November 24, 2018. Madison, Mississippi. Quite a Night.

At the Hospital of University of Mississippi Emergency room, a person must go through security. The gentlemen inspect your purse. All your pockets must be put into a bin to be checked for metal and you walk through a screening, just as you do at the airport. Interesting. Ken was taken on the stretcher directly into the emergency, but before I could see him, I had to go through security. Our night began well. Both of us were sound asleep but Ken rolled out of bed and ended up on the floor. We took 90 minutes to get him up. He decided to rest in his recliner. We both went back to sleep around 3:00. I awoke to hear a crash. Ken had forgotten where he was and fell right out of his chair. This was a more serious fall as he was bleeding all over the floor. I called 911. The firemen came first and tended to his scrapes and cuts. But he had hit his head so we all agreed that Ken needed to be checked at the hospital. The ambulance picked us up and carefully took us to the University Hospital, which turned out to be a good choice. As several of our doctors are at the University, all Kens records are in the computer so I did not need to give any information about anything. They needed no cards now lists of medications. The young doctors were efficient and pleasant. Ken had blood drawn, another chest X-ray, and a ct scan. And they dressed his scrapes. The tests were all negative. We were home by 1:30. Clever Christina found, delivered and installed a side rail for the bed. Now we must figure out how Ken will get in and out of the bed. This was a difficult night. But it could have been worse.