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I knew our lives would change when TW's mom and sister came to live here but I wasn't prepared for quite this level of change. In no particular order...
The amount of medication in the house gives me nightmares. I'm not a medication person. It took me a long time to adjust to two or three medications TW takes regularly to help manage her Crohns Disease but this amount of medication that Mama takes is just overwhelming to me.
I cannot imagine keeping track of that much medication for myself. And watching TW try and get it all straight, making sure her mother takes what she's supposed to take - when she's supposed to take it - it's become pretty clear that Mama wasn't managing it well either. I'm not sure they ever found the missing high blood pressure medication that she's supposed to take everyday.
The number of boxes marked "medication" ... I believe there were six of them. Medium sized packing boxes. Plus all of the medication they brought with them on the plane. We've still got boxes and boxes full, I avoid the laundry room because just looking at the boxes makes me queasy.
Let's see, another change... now, instead of running out at 9pm for cokes or cigarettes or dog food, I'm running to the drugstore for Fleet enemas. That's a new experience for me, let me tell you.
Also, who knew there were so many different types of incontinence pad products? Not me, that's for sure. Is it my imagination or are they more expensive than diapers?
Speaking of shopping, our grocery bill has almost doubled - just with the addition of Mama. This has happened because meals are served regularly around here - whether kids are here or not. I'm not used to that and thank goodness TW has mostly stopped trying to feed me breakfast, lunch and dinner. She's also mostly stopped asking me if I'm going to join them in the dining room on workdays - because generally, no, I'm not, I'm working.
Along with the extra grocery shopping, I've got extra kitchen duty. I'm used to running the dishwasher nonstop when the kids are here but when it's just me and TW, I could go days without running a load. Now, it's daily and often twice a day.
The TV is on quite a bit now and I'm almost to the point where I can block it out. Almost. Oprah still breaks through my defenses and the unusual beauty pageant noises last night distracted me from whatever I was doing. It wasn't until Mama came to live here that I realized why it is that I don't watch TV... most of it seems to be crap.
What's really taken some getting used to is the telephone ringing. Mama's cell phone has the same ring tone as TW's so I am constantly asking TW "Is that your phone or your mothers?" Which is ridiculous because nobody calls TW. The phone rings constantly -- for her mother.
It's like having a 14 year old girl in the house. I'm not kidding and I really was not expecting that. I should have though since TW has always talked to her mother on the phone every single day. I guess I just thought it was a TW and her mom thing, not that her mom LIVES on the phone. Now I know better.
I would really like to give Mama telephone hours - she can't talk on the phone after 9pm or something like that. I say this because the phone rings late at night, always someone saying something that gets her wound up and emotional. That's just not good for her - or for me. The drama level is high enough around here without that kind of thing late at night.
Trips to the ER, trips to the assisted living facility, trips to doctors offices - I don't go every time and it's already wearing me out. I'm not a doctor/hospital kind of person.
TW and I used to go out, on the weekends or sometimes weekdays, just to drive around and find some place new. Or to grab a quick something to eat. Now we don't go out together alone except to pick up Starbucks on M/W/F mornings
