It's been a month and a half since my last Caregiver's Diary, where I talked about some early Thanksgiving blessings that had come our way and for which I was immensely grateful.
With it being the holiday season, a lot has gone on since that time, and I'm happy to note on the eve of 2025 that most of it has been good.
First and foremost, Mom is still doing well considering everything she's been through over the last couple of years between losing my dad after his long battle with kidney disease, finding out she had Stage IIIB colon cancer a few months later, going through chemo, and dealing with the normal aches and pains people typically do as they get older.
At 81 she's been through a lot, seen a lot, experienced a lot, and has maintained an optimistic outlook on life, the latter of which I'm trying to be better at myself even in the hecticness of the daily grind.
SEE ALSO -->> Caregiver's Diary Part 12: Learning to Go With the Flow
In a VIP article I wrote at the end of November, I noted how I was happily embracing the holiday stresses of the season, and had put up our Christmas tree and decorations early because I wanted to stay ahead of the game to make up for the abbreviated Christmas season we had last year due to having a bad cold for the first two weeks of December 2023.
While Christmas 2024 mostly went well for us, I did run into a bit of a hiccup. As readers of this series know, in mid-December, I went through about a week or so of off-and-on headaches, the origins of which I couldn't pinpoint. I speculated that it might have been due not just to the dry winter air but also to the fact we now have a dehumidifier in our crawlspace (have had it since June).
I had our contractor visit us in the midst of my headache bouts, and though it might merely be coincidental, they went away a couple of days after I had him make adjustments in the dehumidifier settings, which as noted above I thought could be contributing to the headaches.
December was indeed stressful but that was mostly self-inflicted. Despite that, overall it was a good month. We were able to go to my middle sister's house for Christmas thanks to the fact that my brother-in-law got a portable ramp, which allowed my mom to use her walker to get inside the house. Had he not done that, the likelihood she would have made it in wouldn't have been good considering they have several stairs for the side entrance and three for the front.
We were so happy to be able to go there as it had been a while because of the stairs issue. Mom has said that as long as she is able to she still wants to visit both my sisters and brothers-in-law, and I am in communication with them often just to make sure we're all on the same page with what Mom needs in order to make the visits work for her from comfort, mobility, and ease of access standpoints.
A few days after Christmas, I had my yearly check-up with my primary care physician. It was a good visit but when I got the numbers back from the bloodwork, a couple of them concerned me. Fortunately, my doctor's office got back with me pretty quickly to let me know they had no concerns about the numbers.
One side effect from that visit has been a sore left arm, which is where I had them give me my tetanus shot. I was told it would be a little more sore than how your arm feels after getting the flu and COVID-19 vaccine shots, but I was not told that there was a possibility there would be multiple days where I'd feel like my arm had been pulled out of its socket and reattached!
Needless to say, that has put a dent in the plans I had for this week as far as things to do around the house (clean out rooms for year-end donations, etc) but I think/hope/pray it's getting better. I still have some soreness along with some mobility challenges in that arm, and the area of the injection still has a "hard" feel to it, but hopefully all of that will go away in a few days.
In closing, I'd like to say thank you to RedState for allowing me the opportunity not just to write here but to also share my experiences in caregiving. Beyond this being therapeutic for me, my hope is that others in similar situations will see these pieces and those I write in the future and know that they are not alone, that there are support networks out there.
Relatedly, I'd like to thank readers for coming along with me on this journey and for sharing your experiences as well. While I use my columns in part to give guidance to other caregivers, I also learn from what I read in the comments. In my opinion, it's a win-win all the way around, and I feel so blessed every day knowing that there are people interested in learning more from me about this topic.
Here's to what 2025 holds - may it bring good health, happiness, peace of mind, and many blessings to all!
RELATED: To read my previous Caregiver's Diary entries, please click here.
