Life at Shady Pines Update

I wanted to take a few minutes and give y’all a Life at Shady Pines update on the senior citizens that live with me. For those who are new around here I call our house Shady Pines. It is the name of the nursing home that Dorothy put Sophia in on The Golden Girls. Anytime Sophia did something Dorothy didn’t like she would call out “Shady Pines Ma!” 

My brother and I picked that up and began calling my house. One because I live in the woods and two because at the time I was taking care of several seniors in the family. Now, sadly I am only caring for my Ma and her brother. Both of whom are doing alright.

My Uncle

My uncle has been spending his days in the backyard in his tent or man cave as he calls it. That is a picture of it above. It is actually the place when we store the lawnmower and such. He however, has turned into his own little hideaway. He has a table, a fan for the summer, a small heater for the winter, and who knows what else in there. 

He spends most of the day out there piddling around as best as he can. He works on the lawn mowers for the neighborhood when is able to. When he isn’t fiddling with those he is riding his own lawnmower around. A lawnmower that he added a cup holder to as well as mirrors so he can see what is behind him. He doesn’t hear well and won’t hear a car pull up behind him. All in all he is doing much better than he was. Living here with us seems to have given him a purpose. Even if that is to get out of the house away from two nagging women. 

We are still having to go for his colonoscopy every six months when they found that precancerous polyp. We actually are due to go this month. However he is in good spirits and that helps. Also there is the clot in his left leg that can’t be removed. The doctor tried and it was too hard to remove. So it was decided we would watch it and only go in when it was necessary since it was such a major surgery. He walks as much as he can because it helps with the blood flow around that. 

My Ma

Ma has been struggling just a bit with her diabetes. Her blood sugar levels are high in the mornings which is making her sick. We haven’t figured out yet what she is eating or drinking at night that is causing it. We are working on it though and some mornings are a bit better. 

Finding her a new hobby is also a struggle. She enjoys the stencils and chalking but she’d rather sit and watch me do it. I want to find something that she enjoys doing and will engage more. So any suggestions are greatly appreciated! A little background for those who don’t know her story. 

My father was my mother’s world. He always forced her (not in a bad way) to get out into the world and do things. He brought projects and hobbies into her life that she hasn’t done since the day he passed away 22 years ago. She still wears her wedding rings and it took me almost five years to get her out of the house after passed. She doesn’t go out much and has never been one to have friends. Her childhood was traumatic and made her wary of people. My Ma is a complainer, God bless her. 

I mean when the doctor recently said the medication she was on could change her mood, I asked how. Like would it make her more irritable because there are days when I’m certain she’s angry we all got out of bed. She’s not hateful, she’s just Ma. It is how she has always been and although our relationship was rocky through the years we have come to depend on one another. She is set in her ways.

I thought a hobby or two would help her. So, I bought what she would need for some of the hobbies she did with my dad. She liked them but ultimately they ended up just sitting because she doesn’t like doing them without him now. She did color for a while a year or so ago but her hands hurt too bad now to do that much. My dad used to put together models and I wonder if I bought her his hobby (it’s not one they didn together) if she would enjoy it.

I know some of you will read this and worry if she has depression or whatever. She does not. She has been tested and her doctors are all aware of the fact that she doesn’t like to leave the house. It is something we are closely monitoring. Ma is just Ma. She will say something sometimes that will just crack you up. Other times she looks like she could kill you if you speak just one more time. I love her and worry about her. Health wise she is doing better than ever. Other than her struggle recently with her blood sugar levels she has never been healthier. It took me years to get her to the doctor but once I did she complied with whatever they asked of her.