Life Changes

Well, we have a new addition to our household. Ed's mother has come to live with us. It was decided back in January that after she retired from Craft Warehouse she would not be able to afford her own home and would come to live with us. We set about remodeling the downstairs to accomodate this. Ed installed a door between the kitchen and what was the dining room.

He also installed French doors between the dining room and living room flanked by glass blocks.

To complete her "apartment" he installed another set of French doors between the living room and the entry way.

Finally, he is in the process of installing a shower in the old laundry room between the family room and the garage.

Then on February 10th, our world was turned upside down. Ma's back had been aching for months. It was the main reason she decided to retire, she just couldn't cope anymore. Her primary doctor told her that she had degenerative disc diesease. After weeks of physical therapy and no relief, Ed finally took her to the emergency room to try to get a shortcut to see a neurologist. Instead, Ma was immediately admitted to the hospital for a broken neck vertebrae! Two major operations later, she has been diagnosed with a carcenoma of unknown origin. For a while we weren't sure she was going to make it out of the hospital. The prognosis is 6 months to a year and a half, hopefully longer. Right now she is having to wear a full neck/back brace when she is up and walking about, and just a soft collar at all other times. Tomorrow she'll finish her radiation treatment.

Ma was released from the hospital to our house yesterday. We were told not to leave her unattended due to the fact that she can't see her feet when she walks in the walker with the brace on, and she gets a little confused when she gets tired. Plus, the pain meds make her a little loopy. She needs to be checked on every four hours to see if she is in enough pain to warrent the meds. This means we will not be getting a full night's sleep anytime soon. (Now I know why God gives babies to young people.)