Wed 11 Dec

Grandma was sitting up in her wheelchair at the dining table when I stopped in at lunch time yesterday. She couldn't really talk, but smiled when she recognized my voice. She took a little food and liquids but was having trouble swallowing them. She sat up fairly straight and looked much better than she apparently did the day before. That's our girl! So far, the cold is holding at bay but it feels like it's waiting in the wings to strike again. I opted for an extra hour of sleep this morning since I've been getting to bed later than usual for several days in a row. I should have time to get some exercise in during the day and evening today. Our snow pants finally arrived yesterday, so maybe we'll test them against the cold tonight. Got my exercise made up by walking to the library and back with my client who lives at the corner of Center and Reserve. Brrrrr!!!!! He dresses warm so I didn't feel guilty letting him (and me!) walk in the cold. I missed the call from the Hospice nurse with today's update; they are gone for the day and I don't want to page him after hours. Dad said his voice on the message didn't sound too grave, and she did look quite a bit better than I had expected yesterday. She isn't really able to talk much any more as she seems pretty weak, but you can tell she knows what's going on. She did talk a little on Sunday even though we had woken her from a pretty sound sleep. I think that sitting up and trying to eat took all the energy she had on Tuesday. She doesn't seem to be refusing to eat so much as forgetting how to swallow. Seems like her body is shutting down, however as I've said before, she has come to a pretty low point in the past and then turned around. No saying whether she'll make it to Christmas but I'm not willing to bet she won't. I'm not really prepared to celebrate Christmas this weekend. The tree's not up, nothing's wrapped, no cookies baked. I'd be happy to bring you up Saturday/Sunday to visit with Grandma if you'd be willing to come back for Christmas celebrations later. We could pick you up later on Saturday afternoon, catch dinner in Madison, and bring you back after lunch on Sunday. We're supposed to Christmas carol with Suzuki on Saturday morning, though I suppose we could opt out of that. We have a rehearsal with Deb after 10:30 Mass on Sunday that should take about half an hour. On a lighter note, we took a walk in the subzero temps to try out our new snow pants and they were warm as toast! Food: 6:45 am Almond pastry, cantaloupe & fruit from Rockman's class, coffee 11:45 am Peach soy shake, slice stollen, tomato rose, cantaloupe, caprese crostini, veggies, berries (more Rockman leftovers), 2 Aunt Sally cookies 1:30 pm Chocolate caramel bar 6:30 pm Homemade caramel 7:15 pm Chili, 12 oz skim milk Exercise: 9:15-9:50 am Walk to library 10:30-11:05 am Walk back 5:50-6:25 pm Walk with Dad