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I want to introduce you to my mom. She'll be 89 in November. I'm her main caregiver with some help from my older sister, who also lives here in Chattanooga. Last week mom asked me to set up her sewing machine for her, which I did. I had to run some errands with my kids, but never more than 10 minutes away. When I got home, mom was in the kitchen. She said, "I left a mess in my room." When I looked, this is what I saw. It was scary. She had ended up on the floor and she said it took her 20 minutes to make it to a chair where she could pull herself up off of the floor. I asked her if she had her phone with her. Of course, she said. Why didn't you call me. She answered, "I was busy getting up."

At least she wasn't hurt, which could have been a real possibility.

Older people are tricky. It's important for them to continually be able to do things and yet supervise them close enough to take care of things like this from not happening.

Anyone else here a caregiver?

AstralSmoke 8 June 12
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I hope she didn't hurt herself, she probably is badly shakin though. My Mother in law is 91 completely mobile, and mentally sharp as a tack, still reads the newspapers every day, plays bridge and does usually completes at least 2 crosswords a day. She is like a second mother to me, I worry about her over confidence, don't want her to take on too much...

My mom is cognitively here; it's her body that doesn't seem to want to take the journey. I took her to Silver Sneakers, a Y senior group today. She said she was tired afterwards, but that's pretty normal. I think the sewing machine incident alarmed me more than it did her. She was proud she got up on her own!

@AstralSmoke
She sounds like she is a fighter..but she needs minding now...

@Hitchens Yes, she's a fighter. Still wants to do things. Likes to socialize, which is important for her or she'll talk my ear off. And yes, she likes for me to do things for her as well!

@AstralSmoke Well look..life is short enough..the longer they can stay mobile..then her quality of life will be better and extended..she probably needs a little help to ferry her to various family functions etc

@Hitchens She usually has 5 or 6 things each week. I try to taxi her around as much as I can. Yes, staying active is the key. I want her to keep it up as long as she can. Don’t think she’d last very long otherwise. I’ll keep doing my best.

@AstralSmoke you're a lifeline to her then..because if she stays at home ..sitting around staring at the 4 walls..she will get depressed..and that is only a downward spiral..well done anyway.

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