Things you need to know if you are taking care of Mom

Let's start with breakfast. Mom usually gets up around 8:15 to 8:30. Sometimes she gets up earlier or later, if she is still in bed at 9 am I let her sleep since she probably couldn't sleep the night before. Once you see her go into the bathroom it's time to get her breakfast started. She will want either two slices of bacon or one thinish slice of Spam. Start the bacon or the Spam at 5.5 on the double burner in the red pan. This is the best temperature because once the burner gets hot anything higher will cook too fast. While the bacon cooks take out her cup, milk, her butter (she has her own) and the pineapple apricot jam. Put a frozen waffle in the toaster at 3.5 and press the frozen button. The waffles have to toast 3 times to get them to the proper dark brown toast. Mom will wander in somewhere along this path and wait to be served. Help her pour her coffee, she can manage her sugar and milk. If she has to brew her own coffee, heat the water in her tall poppy cup since it does not have the gold rim like her usual cup. She will put a tiny amount of instant crystals in her cup and take it from there. Do not take your eyes off the bacon or the waffle. Sometimes she will need so much assistance or give you lip that you forget to pop the waffle before the end of the 3rd toasting and burn it or you will burn the bacon since it is thin sliced and cooks rather fast once it starts.

Rush her to get her seated, take her cup to the table with the waffle. If you don't rush her a bit her food will get "cold" and she will be upset. It is a delicate dance to get everything to her while it's hot, but it is worth the effort since it will save you grief. I sit with her while she eats. She does not speak when eating. Sometimes she will want more hot water. Just remember always serve her food hot!

After she eats take her blood pressure and note it on the list. Find the horoscopes in the paper and leave them out for her. This is the only thing she will read. She might putz around a bit, talk, complain, tell you her dreams and accuse you of any number of things. She will fill her glass with ice and water and ask you several times what day it is. Help her pull out her pills. After she takes her pills she might eat some chocolate or a bite of donut. (Buying her sweets will be on another post)

She will want to go "blow her nose" as she calls it, but it is really her using her oxygen. Check the level of the water in the plastic container on the top side of the unit. She uses the oxygen so much that it usually needs to be re-filled. Only refill it with bottled water up to the max line. Now she will lay there and go to sleep and probably not want much until lunch. She eats between 11:00 and 12:00.

Now since you are not me, some or none of the above will apply. She just might pull her "independent" trick so just watch and let her do it unless it means her food will be cold and then step in and take over or you will regret it.