Text 2986, 70 rader
Skriven 2010-10-23 16:20:04 av Nancy Backus (1:261/1381.0)
   Kommentar till text 2944 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
Ärende: Re: MOW  was: Anne's Mom
================================
-=> Quoting Ruth Haffly to Nancy Backus on 21 Oct 10  16:19:46 <=-

 RH>> I'm not surprised; cooking for just one person is hard. Nobody to
 RH>> there to appreciate it. Besides, at her age, she's probably cooked more
 RH>> meals in her lifetime than she wants to remember.  Add (possible)
 RH>> health issues to that and I wouldn't blame her in the least for wanting
 RH>> to take the easy way out from time to time.
 NB>> Even at my age, I begin to appreciate more of those factors..

 RH> Same here, especially on days we've got so much else going on.  I've

Yup, busy-ness is often a factor in having other things become
overwhelming... and tiredness...  If I've had a long day, and Richard
got home before me and fell asleep, I don't feel much like cooking
anything unless I'm more starving than tired... and maybe not even then.
Epsecially when chances are that he's not going to even want to eat
either...  ;/

 NB>> she is now living, it's a senior apartment building, and she gets
 NB>> out of her apartment regularly to interact with others there, in the
 NB>> common room. She's been there only a few months, but she's already
 NB>> making friends there... :)

 RH> My parents could use something like that but it's unlikely they will
 RH> ever do it. Too much stuff and they don't want to move away from where
 RH> they're living now.
 
It makes a difference whether one has had their own house or has been
living in apartments all along, I think.  This lady has been in
apartments probably all her life... most recently had moved from a
townhouse type to a flat that wasn't really any better.  The townhouse
had stairs inside, but one was in charge of their own front door, and
that was a straight step out.  Mail was in a centralized location down
the sidewalk, outside.  The newer place was a flat, but there was stairs
to get to whichever floor your flat was on, and the mailbox, while
inside, was at the bottom of those stairs for her.  Plus, she had to go
down those stairs to let any visitors into the building, unless the
other tenants had been remiss and hadn't closed that outer door fully
shut (which then wasn't very secure).  So where she is now is obviously
a better situation, from any vantage point.  She's on the first floor
(and had she been given an apartment on the second floor, there's an
elevator), there are no stairs at all in or out, mailboxes are inside,
near the common room and main entrance, and if she has visitors, she can
buzz them in from her phone in her apartment.  There's also staff around
most of the time, and maintenance that can be called at any time in an
emergency... 

Now, my neighbor, on the other hand, has invested herself into the house
she has owned for 40 years, has lots of stuff that makes it home for
her, and for her, apartment living, however nice and geared to her
situation, just wouldn't make the grade for her.  She's even done some
real thinking about it over the years, and decided that she really wants
to stay where she is.  So the answer there is to get as much support
into the house as she needs to be able to maintain herself there.  Meals
on Wheels is just one part of that.  :)  Having aides come in to help
with personal care, light housekeeping and to make sure she eats and
takes her meds properly is another part, along with some mods to the
environment there (a powder room in a closet downstairs, grab bars and
such for the upstairs bath) and getting her out to an adult day program
a couple days a week (which she was sure she'd hate, but now she likes,
since she can be of help to others there that aren't doing as well as
she is)...  And having a neighbor to do her grocery shopping for her for
now... I'm hoping she'll get strong enough soon to be able to come
along...  :)   That's probably more where your parents are, too.
 
ttyl       neb

... Man cannot live on bread alone; that's why there's orange marmelade.
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