Encourged

On Sunday, Andy and I drove up to Berks Co., Pennsylvania to spend the afternoon with my brothers and sisters.  We met together to discuss my mother's move to assisted living, her assets, the upcoming auction of her house and things.  It was a good time to be together and we came away very thankful for the relationships we enjoy with my siblings.  Not every family can tolerate being together, let alone have fun together and really like each other.  We are blessed.

Here is Andy with my brother, Wendell.
 

  We stopped in to see my mother before going to the sibling meeting. 
 

I think the picture of us together is pretty funny because she was always 4 inches taller than I was.  I think she's shrunk because I look like a giant next to her!  I hope I don't shrink 4 inches in the next 20 years...I can't afford to be that short!
 

 We had a very encouraging day yesterday.  Andy had an appointment with Dr. J, his neuropsychologist who diagnosed the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.  We went prepared to let him know some of the things Andy was experiencing:  fatigue, frequent need for daytime naps, inability to exercise, occasional stiffness of joints.  As we were walking down the hallway back to his office, Dr. J. observed Andy's stride, then commented on it when we got in his office.  He mentioned that Andy was swinging his arms as he walked.  This is good because a symptom of Parkinson's is that the arms get stiff and rigid.  Dr. J. was encouraged that the medications are working.  As we got to talking, he asked if we would be open to physical therapy.  Oh yes, we would.  He gave us the name of an office and encouraged us to make an appointment.  He said they would work specifically in putting together an exercise program for Parkinson's patients.  So as soon as we got home, I made an appointment!  We are both excited about this.

The Alzheimer's is a different story, though.  I'd like to believe it isn't getting any worse and staying pretty stable.  But I'm not sure that would be accurate.  He often doesn't know what day it is.  He'll ask me several times what's on the agenda for the day, then doesn't seem to remember so he has to ask again...and again...and again.  I'm also needing to be more diligent in administering his medications.  Several months ago, I began putting all his pills in a weekly case (instead of depending on him to do it), with 2 compartments for each day, morning and evening.  He was doing well in taking them at the right time, but then at one point, he took his evening pills in the morning which really messed things up because it's not the same dose each time.  We got that one straightened out.  But then it happened again a week or so later, so I've had to tell him not to take any pills unless I give them to him. 

He continues to be a lot of fun to have around.  We laugh a lot at ourselves and our situation.  I'm so grateful for his acceptance of my new role of being in charge.  Sometimes I feel really bossy, and like I'm a drill sergeant or something.  But Andy is so kind and congenial about it.  He actually seems to like it.  He's becoming more dependent, looking for me to make the moves.  I still talk things over with him which can be quite an ordeal if he doesn't understand or gets confused.  But we keep working on it until the light dawns!  If it doesn't happen to dawn, we just forget it and I do what I think should be done.

Another encouraging event was that we also had an appointment with our life insurance guy yesterday.  He explained our financial situation to us and I think I understood it!  I had always let Andy and him meet, not really caring or interested in that level of discussion.  However, now I need to understand so I made the effort.  Our finance guy is also our friend and he genuinely cares about us and our situation.  I am humbled by the way he carefully explains our situation and yesterday, as he talked about the future, he actually teared up.  But he was very happy about where we are and what our future looks like.  I feel confident that we will be taken care of, if not from our assets, then the Lord will find another way.  We'll probably have to make some adjustments to our budget, but that's ok.

 Laughing about our situation reminded me of that verse describing the Proverbs 31 woman:  she laughs at the future because she is prepared.  Andy prepared for our future by buying our life insurance and the different perks that went with it.  I confess that early on, I wasn't too keen on making those payments.  The future seemed so far away and we really needed the money NOW.  But he had a lot of foresight and listened to advice, squirreling away our money for our future.  And now I see how wise he was and how grateful I am for his provision for me.  After our meeting yesterday, he feels so much more confident that I will be taken care of financially.  He's a good man!