The usual mornings

Well, my mom had the past 2 mornings "not feeling well". Same old story. No exact problem or symptoms she can describe. They often seem to correspond to mornings when she is expected to do something......like I am coming. Or previously, when her BF was alive, it was days she was supposed to go visit/stay with him. Yesterday was the first morning the dining room is opened back up and she's supposed to go down for breakfast, rather than them bringing everyone's meal to their apartment. Of course, she didn't feel well. She says she called down to ask for her meal to be brought up and whoever she talked to wasn't very nice and said she had to come down. Well, of course then that upset/stressed her out more. I called her about 10:45 and then she had a knock on the door and it was the lady who I think is asst. mgr (her husband is mgr) making sure she felt ok. My mom asked her if she could just call down if she didn't feel well and she told her yes, definitely.

I made sure my mom had taken her meds and look at her pillbox while on the phone with me. She insisted she has. She always acts like this is the first time she hasn't felt well in the mornings and I gently reminded her that she has had this several mornings a week for the past couple of years and always within a couple of hours she feels fine for the rest of the day. I said I think you just have some mornings where you don't feel so well and just takes a bit longer to get going for the day. I think some of it is she gets up and starts worrying about this or that, and especially if she's expected to be on a timeline, I think it stresses her out and she thinks she doesn't feel well.

So, it doesn't appear that it's the Tylenol PM causing "the mornings" but I have noticed she seems much more alert and doesn't sound groggy, like she used to. Either way, I do not think taking Tylenol PM almost every night (and sometimes 2 pills) is a good/healthy thing.

I emailed the lady who I think is the assist. mgr of the place. I explained that my mom has never been one to be up and ready by 8am (their breakfast time). At her previous independent living place she kept milk, cereal, toast etc in her apartment and that is what she had most mornings, when she was ready to eat, and only went down for lunch and dinner. I said we wanted to make sure my mom was doing what is expected of her and not causing anyone there confusion, so if she wants to eat her own breakfasts in her apartment, does she need to call down every morning to tell them she's not coming down? And if she does want them to send up a breakfast for her, I'm assuming she can call down for it to be brought up and just pay the $5 fee (which she doesn't mind doing)? She only emailed back that if she doesn't want to come down for breakfasts, it will not be a problem. I guess I'm to read that that she doesn't need to call down and let them know she's not coming. I hate when people can't answer something you specifically asked, LOL. But this is "independent" living. I wouldn't think residents would need to let them know if they aren't eating there. Some obviously have their own vehicles, they could be going out to eat at a restaurant or a relatives home or something.

I know when my mom lived in her own house, I don't think she got up most mornings until 8:30 or so.  Plus she has to take her omeprazole pill and wait 30 minutes before eating breakfast. I just don't see her being one to be up, showered and dressed before 8am. She'd probably have to get up by at least 7, just to feel awake enough to get moving and get ready by 8am.

She did call me about 4:45 pm and said she had just been out in the sitting room area near her apartment visiting with some others and was going down to dinner and she was fine and seemed very chipper.

My uncle called last night with some not so good news. He just found out he has skin cancer on his scalp. Hopefully it's something they can remove and he'll be fine, but I was having a hard time getting out of him the prognosis and the when of removal. He was more intent on talking about his estate and final wishes, so my questions weren't getting answered. I figured since he just found out that day, he's probably a bit overwhelmed and I just let him say what he needed to say and I'll give him a call in a few days. He is 76, 3 years younger than my mom. He also said he wasn't going to say anything at this point to my mom, since her memory isn't too good and he also wants her to focus on adjusting to her new place, rather than worrying about him. I agree.