When I went by today, mom said she wanted to go to Carillon, a large facility nearby that has various levels of care from independent to total assistance. She has known people who have been there and she likes the facilities. A friend gave us the name of a person to contact and the receptionist at The Garrison said that he is considered a health care professional and so can come see mother in quarantine. I need to call him Monday and make an appointment. We need to “get on the list ASAP.” We talked about estate sales. A friend had one and I’m trying to find his phone number to contact him to see who did his estate sale and get his recommendation.
We talked about getting me into Carillon as well. She wants us both to go there as soon as we can get in. This makes perfect sense to me with my health issues. I am fully capable of living independently, but if I have to go through chemo again (as I inevitably will), I’m going to want somebody checking on me on a fairly regular basis “just ’cause.” The last time I went through chemo, I had a heart attack, a bad reaction to two chemo drugs, and pneumonia and was in the hospital four times between January and July of that year. I dread the thought, but am hopeful that I will have enough time to get mom settled, have the estate sale, and sell her house and car before I have to get serious with the lymphoma again. I see the oncologist a week from this coming Monday.
As I was driving up the street to mom’s house to get some financial papers and check on the place, there were “Estate Sale” signs out where traffic could see them. I walked up to the house where they were having it and talked to the lady who was doing it. She told me how she charged and I got her card for future reference.
This afternoon I called AT&T and got her cable TV cancelled. We kept the phone and internet for the time being because we don’t yet know if she can have her own phone in the skilled nursing facility at Carillon (she’s had that phone number since 1975 and everybody and their cousin has it), and I don’t have unlimited data on my phone and can use her WiFi when I’m there. Tomorrow, I need to unplug and unhook her TV cable boxes and get them to the UPS store next week to return them to AT&T.
The next hurdle we face is getting the house in shape to sell (Estate sale to sell what we can, donating what we can to charity, and I think we’re going to need to rent a skip from the city . . .), and getting it sold. Her car is not that old and has fairly low mileage.
Mom is holding up pretty well considering everything that’s happening. She is having to face the fact that she won’t be living anymore in the house she has lived in since 1962. She is also having to come to terms with the fact that she won’t be living independently any more. However, mom is a realist. She has always been one to face facts head on, hitch up her big girl panties and get on with it. Right now, she is in limbo, with the future still undetermined. I think once we talk to the man from Carillon, that will help. I think she’s more worried about my situation than she is her own, but then moms are like that. Yeah, they are.
The Owl Underground 
Everything you’ve said about you Mom over the years suggests all this change will be easier for her than it would be for some (many?) people. That’s not to say it’s going to be flat easy, but she clearly has coping skills. The last five years of her life, my mother and I lived in the same building, albeit in separate apartments. I had no idea how much difference that would make, but it sure was a help. When Mom had an emergency, all she had to do was call and say, “Honey, I can’t get the tv remote to work” and I could be there in about two minutes.
LikeLike