A Music and Photographic Tribute

Remembering Omi

A Tribute to a Wonderful Lady. At the time of this post, Omi is sleeping, waiting.

Breathe

It is getting dark. I have been 87 years dealing with the pain; the pain of desertion, disillusionment and dishonesty.  Life has had plenty of joy and love and more, but in the end the pain was always there.

Now the pain is nearly gone. I dream and in dreams all is good. My daughters are always with me. My granddaughter is here, too. Good family like my father and mother are stroking my head. Monika has made these days as pain free as anyone could ask.

Now my joy is in the next breath. We all know that even that will stop. I don't know what's next, but if possible, I'll save you a nice place at the table. 

Pain is Relative

Last week I took a turn for the worse. Nothing was working right. I had problems on both ends and plenty in between. Hudson EMT's had to come out again and it was off to Summa Western Reserve for another stay. The one fellow, Jack, called me OMI. I liked that, he's a nice boy.

Turns out I have three small fractures in my spine. If that makes you squirm a little, imagine how I felt! My daughter, Monika had kept me away from pain killers stronger than Tylenol. But that all changed this time. I couldn't stop screaming for a while there until I started taking something stronger. It's better now, but I can't stay awake for very long.

Now I'm in a beautiful place called Grand Village Retirement Center. It's very nice, smells nice. I'm only here for a short time for rehab. I don't know how long just yet. But when I go home things will be  little different. Monika and Chuck will get some help because I can't do much with a broken back. Here's a little video Chuck took out in one of the common areas of Grand Village.

Köszönöm Szépen

  

Laughing is Good

I noticed a couple of things that make my kids laugh. I don't always mean it. But this week there were two things that just cracked them up. Once I was getting ready to get up to go to the rest room, my daughter Monika was trying to get me to stand. The Hungarian word is allj fel, strangely enough you say it like "I fell." So she was saying that over and over again and finally I looked at her and said, in English, "this lady stand up!" She and Chuck must have laughed at that for days.

Just this Sunday I decided to eat some grapes. I don't know why, but I used my spoon. It just seemed right. Chuck almost choked on his meatloaf laughing.

I'm glad I can make them happy. 

Well, this is new.

Chuck and Monika have stuck a bunch of things on my skin. They say it's to keep track of my heartbeat. Not very comfortable. I will try not to yank them off. But I am making no promises.

They'll have to watch me like they watch American Idol.

Had this thing on me for a few hours. They say I am connected to a nurse back at Summa through the cell phone. It's pretty amazing when you think about it. Like if my heart stops they can do anything about it from across town. I'll go along with it for now, but like I said, no promises. 

Silly Things People Say to Me

My daughter asked me what day January 27th was. I told her, "January 27th." And they call me crazy.

People are always asking me, "how are you?" My only answer is, "how do you want me to be?"

When I was in the hospital they attached this string to this string to my night gown. If I leaned forward it would make an awful noise. I asked them to make the string longer. 

Less is More

For years now I have been battling dementia and mild Alzheimer's Disease. Mainly I have trouble remembering things. I also have trouble getting around because of painful arthritis in my knees. In 2008 I moved from St. Pete here to Hudson with my daughter Monika and her husband Chuck.

Over the years I have had several episodes where I have been inside. That's what it's like to be in a hospital and nursing care, like jail. The worst part is the drugs they give you. A couple of years ago I was in rehab after a week or so in the hospital. It was a nice enough place, near home with attentive staff. But they gave me this awful drug caller Seroquel XR. It is made for people with pretty serious mental problems. They gave it to me to quiet me down. It was probably the worst thing I had ever been through. 

Fortunately my daughter and son-in-law saw I wasn't right and threw a fit. It took days for me to come back around and weeks before I was my old self again. This weekend I was back inside again, but this time just because I was passing out. Guess what? They found that a drug I was on for an irregular heartbeat was making me faint! They took me off that and I'm okay again. 

I know there are drugs that do good things. But there are also drugs that cause real problems for people. Older folks can't always speak up and if we let them they'll pump us full of terrible stuff. I'm not saying anything about the drugs you are given by your doctor. I'm just saying twice now I am better off without them. 

Köszönöm Szépen