Helpful Xander

Curtis stayed over again to help watch Mom last night. I got up half an hour early so that he could leave on time. Mom got up about the same time to use the bathroom. Since she has been under the weather I have not been waking her up to do her breathing exercises; I do all the vital sign & exercise stuff together. The process is after she gets back from the bathroom I take her temperature, blood pressures, & heart rate. Then I offer her a drink of water. Then she lays down and does her breathing exercises with the incentive spirometer. I discovered she can inhale deeper when she is lying down. This morning Xander helped her with her exercises, he's a live mascot.

Xander supervising Mom's breathing exercises.

The front that brought the daylong downpour yesterday is still hanging around. But today it was interspersed with some sunny patches. Once again, I did not have to water the vegetables today.


And once again it encouraged a lot of indoor work. Today I steam cleaned the carpet in the family room and the floors in the kitchen, dining room, guest bedroom, guest bathroom, hallway, and utility room. I kind of over did it; I could feel my back tightening up about 2/3 of the way through all that. But the clean feeling underfoot when I walk across the family room carpet is worth it.

After cleaning family room carpet. The white part is where the steam cleaner head rests on the carpet glider.

The other reason the family room carpet needed a good cleaning was because I have been doing the Wii Fit enough so that I have new exercises that are available to me that are done on the floor. Having a cleaner floor is always a plus for floor exercises! Walking across the linoleum floors is also nicer. I had been trying to steam clean the floors once a month. I would do it on a Tuesday when Mom was at mahjong because I did not want her to see me using the steam mop and try to do it on her own and hurt herself. But the mahjong group has not played since the end of October for a variety of reasons. They have not started up again, so having Mom be very tired while she recuperates has come in handy!

Clean coral cloth for use on the linoleum floors.

The coral cloth after doing the linoleum floors. It doesn't look as dirty as the microfiber cloth but it still picked up a lot.

Mom has been trying to get Xander to lie on her left side, next to her broken rib to help her heal faster. He finally did it today, 4 weeks in to her healing. Even if it doesn't really work she likes thinking he is helping her to heal.

Xander helping Mom's fractured rib to heal with his therapeutic purring!

Denise from Ho'okele Health arrived right on time this evening. I told her that raising the level of the bed and the toilet have worked to help Mom stand up easier, but we still want some help for the next week while she gets stronger. Denise is pleasant and Mom did not seem to mind her although she did not want Denise to sit in the room with her. Denise sat right outside in the living room. I'll find out more tomorrow morning about how Mom interacts with her overnight. (I hope Mom likes her, she lives really close by.)

Happy Birthday to Ted, Brienne, & Ayla! Happy Banana Cream Pie Day, Old Stuff Day, & Read Across America Day (aka Dr. Seuss Day)! Click here to find out what's happening tomorrow.