Maybe I shouldn’t complain, but I’m going to do it anyway!
Mom has a few friends who stop by and check on her, which is really a great thing because I don’t have to worry that she’s alone all day. They stop in for about an hour or so, and make sure she gets her lunch (which I either put out for her or leave on the top shelf of the ‘fridge) and a visit to the commode. Well the thing is, they try to help with other things - unfortunately, this usually results in MORE WORK FOR ME, and after a long day it just makes things worse.
I’m not talking about the home health aide, she’s fabulous!!
Last night, I was just supposed to pop in at home, check on Mom, get her situated and then head out to the monthly PNO. Well that didn’t happen.
First of all, I didn’t get home until 6:15 PM - a half hour later than normal (damned traffic).
I totally forgot to swing by CVS to pick up the new meds for Mom (thankfully she has enough to cover her for today)
I found that someone was nice enough to replace the toilet paper in my bathroom - well they used the wrong stuff. (yes, that picky) Mind you the correct roll was under the counter, but they obviously didn’t look!
I go into the kitchen to find glasses left on the kitchen table, and used paper towels on the counter.
They put recyclables into the trash - which I now need to take out and put into the recycle bucket, which is RIGHT NEXT TO IT, and which is CLEARLY LABELED!!!
There is water all over the counter and it’s coming from the coffee maker - great - it’s broken and now I have to go buy another one.
The commode had been emptied, but no water put back into it.
The new cream that the nurse had left for Mom was no where to be found. One of her helpers had left it on the kitchen table and not by the commode where it was needed. Other items that should have been thrown out were left on the bed.
I was telling Mom to ask her helpers NOT to help, because they were just making more work for me. I was sitting on the coach folding laundry telling talking to Mom and just getting more upset, she says ‘why don’t you go lay down for awhile.’ So I asked her if she wanted to finish folding the laundry. Well she couldn’t, and she knew that. So I finished folding the laundry and then put it away.
She wasn’t hungry and I was so upset at that point that I told her I didn’t care and for her to let me know when/if she wanted to eat. I’m tired of trying to get her to eat and I’m not going to force feed her. Later on in the evening she asked for some grapes - that was her dinner.
So I went back into the kitchen and filled up the dishwasher and then hand washed the large items that don’t fit into the machine. I also started another load of laundry (sheets from Mom’s bed). Then sat down at the kitchen table and logged on to my work computer to get caught up on stuff. I didn’t look up again until 8:30 and realized that I had TOTALLY forgotten about PNO. :-{ sorry marillian.
I’m wondering if I should make a list of tasks that I wouldn’t mind Mom’s friends to help with. But the only things I can think of are: sweep & mop the kitchen floor and vacuum the rug. These are two things that I just don’t seem to find time to do.
They can’t stack the dishwasher because they don’t do it correctly. Each item has a certain space in the washer so that it fits & washes efficiently. The last time someone did it, there were dishes on the lower rack and glasses on the upper and nothing was cleaned thoroughly.
They can’t put the dishes away because the don’t know what goes in what cabinet. i.e. when they couldn’t find where it was supposed to go, they just put it anywhere they wanted. Which meant that I had to take it out of where they put it and put it where it was supposed to go. (we have a separate cabinet for all the Tupperware/Rubbermaid plastic containers - they don’t go in with the regular dishes)
BTW, Thank you for letting me vent!!
I’m not talking about the home health aide, she’s fabulous!!
Last night, I was just supposed to pop in at home, check on Mom, get her situated and then head out to the monthly PNO. Well that didn’t happen.
First of all, I didn’t get home until 6:15 PM - a half hour later than normal (damned traffic).
I totally forgot to swing by CVS to pick up the new meds for Mom (thankfully she has enough to cover her for today)
I found that someone was nice enough to replace the toilet paper in my bathroom - well they used the wrong stuff. (yes, that picky) Mind you the correct roll was under the counter, but they obviously didn’t look!
I go into the kitchen to find glasses left on the kitchen table, and used paper towels on the counter.
They put recyclables into the trash - which I now need to take out and put into the recycle bucket, which is RIGHT NEXT TO IT, and which is CLEARLY LABELED!!!
There is water all over the counter and it’s coming from the coffee maker - great - it’s broken and now I have to go buy another one.
The commode had been emptied, but no water put back into it.
The new cream that the nurse had left for Mom was no where to be found. One of her helpers had left it on the kitchen table and not by the commode where it was needed. Other items that should have been thrown out were left on the bed.
I was telling Mom to ask her helpers NOT to help, because they were just making more work for me. I was sitting on the coach folding laundry telling talking to Mom and just getting more upset, she says ‘why don’t you go lay down for awhile.’ So I asked her if she wanted to finish folding the laundry. Well she couldn’t, and she knew that. So I finished folding the laundry and then put it away.
She wasn’t hungry and I was so upset at that point that I told her I didn’t care and for her to let me know when/if she wanted to eat. I’m tired of trying to get her to eat and I’m not going to force feed her. Later on in the evening she asked for some grapes - that was her dinner.
So I went back into the kitchen and filled up the dishwasher and then hand washed the large items that don’t fit into the machine. I also started another load of laundry (sheets from Mom’s bed). Then sat down at the kitchen table and logged on to my work computer to get caught up on stuff. I didn’t look up again until 8:30 and realized that I had TOTALLY forgotten about PNO. :-{ sorry marillian.
I’m wondering if I should make a list of tasks that I wouldn’t mind Mom’s friends to help with. But the only things I can think of are: sweep & mop the kitchen floor and vacuum the rug. These are two things that I just don’t seem to find time to do.
They can’t stack the dishwasher because they don’t do it correctly. Each item has a certain space in the washer so that it fits & washes efficiently. The last time someone did it, there were dishes on the lower rack and glasses on the upper and nothing was cleaned thoroughly.
They can’t put the dishes away because the don’t know what goes in what cabinet. i.e. when they couldn’t find where it was supposed to go, they just put it anywhere they wanted. Which meant that I had to take it out of where they put it and put it where it was supposed to go. (we have a separate cabinet for all the Tupperware/Rubbermaid plastic containers - they don’t go in with the regular dishes)
BTW, Thank you for letting me vent!!