12/22/04 7:47am
Happy Holiday's Y'all. December 2004

Last year I told you of the news concerning Mom and her stroke, this year things are very different in Houston. In February 2004, Groundhog's day, to be exact, Mom had a second stroke. She really had not progressed to far when that stroke happened. It set her back quite a bit. We (Anna, Joan, Tom and myself) made the decision to move them to Houston as soon as Mom was able to travel. So we rented a RV and brought them to TX in March. On the way to FL to pick them up, the nursing service I hired to help out, decided they couldn't take care of them. We had rented an apartment at an assisted living facility about a mile from our homes, and the nurses have offices there. I ended up finding a wonderful lady, Liz, to come and work for us. Liz then found us some additional nurses. We moved them in April to Anna's house (she has a single story home 7 blocks from my house). We had to do some minor renovations to accommodate them and moved the shebang there.

It has been an interesting process, taking care of our parents. We currently have nurses 24/7 and they are wonderful. There sometimes are problems between them, which I never anticipated. One day we had an issue where one nurse claimed the other nurse was a witch and we needed to get rid of her. Then the "witch" nurse said the other one was a witch too! Yes, it is fun being the boss. Two of the three nurses are from Nigeria and have very strong religious beliefs that are a little on the strange side. We got the witch thing worked out and are all working well together.

Both Mom and Dad have been in and out of the hospital since they have been here. Dad got pneumonia and the flu (at the same time) and spent a week in the hospital. After he got home he was weak and fell a few times. Thank God he only broke a few fingers on his left hand and not his hip. Mom had some issues in getting her seizure medications regulated. After the second stroke, she started having them. Then Mom had some stomach issues, but is on the mend. Joan, Tom, Anna and I have divided up some of the parent duties. Joan is in charge of the main money for the folks. Joan and Tom took care of getting their home emptied and moved up to GA. Joan, thank God, took care of selling their home in FL. She got the home sold 1 week before the first hurricane (Charley) hit FL. God we were lucky. The lady that bought the house did have a lot of damage. We aren't sure which hurricane caused the most damage, but they lost all the bushes in the front yard, the naval orange tree, the tree on the side of the drive way (the lady had taken down the one in the island the day before Charley hit), and the roof was gone in many places. She had her car damaged (in the garage) from roof damage. Oh, and if you send M&D a card or letter, don't mention the house. Dad gets too upset talking about the house, so we didn't tell him we sold it.

Anna has opened her home to the folks and to the nursing staff. Her dog, Tiger, was upset when they moved in, because she moved him and her out of the master bedroom and into one of the small bedrooms. Tiger thought (we know this through the pet psychic) she may get rid of him since they moved in. But he is better now and has accepted the folks and the nurses as part of the pack. The nurses forget that Anna lives there too. Sometimes they question why we purchase items, and Anna has to remind them that they are for her, not the folks.

I get the job of getting them back and forth to the doctors, the pills and most of the shopping. I used to love to go shopping, but after you run to the store daily (so it seems), it gets not to be so much fun. I have the most wonderful boss! He so understands the time I need to get them to the doctors. Sometimes I feel like I am hardly at work. I traded in my suburban and got a van and put in a handicap lift. What a wonderful device. It was worth every penny.

On Christmas day last year Joan was down in FL taking care of Dad. Anna, Jerry and myself flew in for the day and we all went to spend the day at DM with Mom. We flew back late that evening and when we got home our cat, Arlene had passed. She was almost 19 years old and had chronic renal failure and was recently diagnosed with bone cancer of her front paw. We were not expecting her to live long, but passing on Christmas wasn't expected. I guess it was a good thing we were gone, because I would have rushed her to the emergency vet. This way she passed in peace. Emily brought home a kitten that she found at an abandoned home on the Halloween weekend, so we call her Trixie. She was about 5 weeks old when we got her. She is a Siamese mix and full of piss and vinegar. She can play all day and all night. Hopefully she will settle down when she gets older. Her new best bud, is Harley, the deaf dog. They wrestle all the time.

The rest of our family is doing well. Aaron is almost 11 years old and is getting very tall. He is as tall as my friend Kelley! Emily has moved in with us. She was laid off her last job and hasn't found one yet, much to Jerry's dismay. We are pushing her to figure out what she want to do with her life or at least get some type of job. Jerry and I are still working hard at out jobs. Jerry loves his job that he started last Dec. On Jerry's side of the family, his folks are doing great and still working hard. Kenneth is still with the construction company, Donnie too, and Doris is still driving the school bus. His Grandmother is the same age as Mom, and Granny gets along very well. She is slowing up some, but still lives alone. Jerry's brother Donnie is good too. He is going to be a granddad in April. Yes, Lisa is preggers. Pretty soon, Donnie and Lisa are going to have the same size bellies! Can't wait to take a picture of that one.

Our family hopes this letter finds all of you healthy and I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday!
Love, Mary, Jerry, Emily, Aaron, Lucky, Hoochie, Harley, Trixie and the fish