Keep Calm and Love Dogs

Frax and my Mom are very close. Frax being who he is, is able to pick up on her emotional vibes. Now I know he can pick up on them over the phone!

I'm not known for having 'good-timing' with family phone calls. I call normally when someone has just knocked a paint can over on their carpeting, or dropped dinner on the floor...that kind of thing. Just bad timing, I guess. It's certainly a talent, but one that I've tried hard over the years to shake. When family is under stress my bad timing always amps up and I really should know not to call anyone about anything. I never learn.

Tonight, I called my mom, who has been in the critical care unit at our local hospital, to wish her good-night. She's been thankfully moved out to a room on the floor and the urinary infection that probably precipitated her fall that broke her shoulder is now under control. Mom has what we old-time nurses call 'sundowners'. She's spot on mentally during the day, but as the sun goes down she gets confused. Sometimes really confused. In older folks when they get really confused suddenly, it's likely because they have an infection or something else physically is off. It's a symptom.

So I called. Apparently her nurse and several other folks were in her room trying to orient her. She was very confused. All of a sudden. The previous night she'd been fine. Tonight she thought that both her legs were broken, someone had taken her in an ambulance and dumped her in a graveyard! Jeez Louise! That would freak me out too!

First I said to her, why would she be talking to me, if all that was going on? That gave her pause. Then I asked if her legs were hurting. She screamed that “yes! They hurt horribly!” There was the answer. She wasn't able to tell the staff she was hurting till her legs were on fire with pain~ and she got terribly confused from the pain.

The graveyard thing I get...she hates that she is in this old broken body at nearly 92. She is a young-thinking woman who wants to shop and putter around having fun, not be restricted by a body that doesn't coöperate! (Rent the movie “Cocoon” directed by Ron Howard.)

After we got that sorted out, her nurse went and got her pain medication. I called to check on her two hours later~ 'voila...asleep and resting comfortably. Thank God.

It was surprising to me that the other nurse needed a nudge through the steps of figuring out why her patient was acting the way she was. (I never identified myself as a nurse, just my mom's daughter.) It seems they don't teach people to sort out why elderly people sometimes get violently confused. Mom was telling us, it just was all messed up because she hurt so badly.

During the episode, Frax sat intently beside me...then started pacing and alerting. He could tell mom was in distress from her voice over the phone, which was on conference call. I spoke and settled him, and he snuggled in next to me in bed. After the call, he lay his huge head on my chest with a great paw over my heart...what a sweetie! He knew exactly what the issue was...and exactly how to help.

Two hours later, after a nap...Frax thinks naps are very therapeutic not only for pups, but for people as well, and I think he's on to something there...we called and checked on mom. She was asleep and snoozing. I really think that Frax's vibes of peace and serenity got through that phone line to mom. The pain med didn't hurt either!

It's so hard to watch a parent struggle like this. Hard for a child to go from being a child to being a 'parent' to their parent during an episode. Strangely, mom knows this is so. And hates it. I know I would. The reassuring thing is that in the morning she might remember all this, but it hopefully will be just like a really bad dream. I put that thought in her mind before we hung up tonight. She snatched on to it. My greatest hope and prayer is that she doesn't remember anything of it!

I couldn't be prouder of Frax. He was there for me physically and mentally during this horrid time with mom. During our visits to her in the hospital he was just as attentive and there for me...it's no wonder that my seizure rate is so much down~ I know Frax has my back, just as he knows I've got his. Teamwork. That is what being a service team is, and is so hard to define to others. But this is so. This is how it is. I am blessed to have this big furry assistant there in good times and in bad, and that is what the helper dog relationship is all about. It's not at all unusual that Frax has tuned in to others in the family, especially those he deems are in special need of help. It happened all the time with Jet, just more so...since he tuned in to all the other people we met during the day as well! It need not be just family or close friends. Can you imagine the psychic energy expended? I have thanked Frax profusely tonight, and I pray he understands the gratitude. I think he does. I know it actually.

So good-night. The cicadas are singing a bit more slowly, the push of season change hanging ripe in the August heat. Despite the warmth of the days the nights are cooling and less humid. The summer song of the cicadas is less frantic and harsh, their raucous melody slowing more and more each passing night. Even the crickets, who are always a voice in the background are easing off each night, and are seeking shelter within our warm cottage. I found a cricket inside just the other day. They say they are good luck, a cricket on the hearth and all that. We don't have a hearth, but I like the thought of the good luck, as summer passes into autumn and another year fades away like a faint remembered tune from summer's past. Good-night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!

Later...

LV, FX & JT

#psychic #dogpickuphumanvibes #confusioninelderly