Tag Archives: Ice cream

The Meeting

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Deutsch: Präparat zur Therapie der Parkinson K...

 Parkinson

Sorry friends for not responding back about the meeting. I have done so much walking getting the two bedrooms finished my feet are burning up all the time. It is just going to take time to get back to where they were, I hope.

I went in to see Al during his lunch time. I realized that I am going to need a divided plate for him. I am not sure where I can get a hold of one of these that doesn’t look like a toddler’s set.

He does pretty good eating on one of these. He had Strawberry Ice-cream for dessert. He must have been getting tired from the main course because his tremors were keeping him from enjoying the dessert.

He struggled and the scooping of onto his spoon was hard. He was making a mess so I asked him a couple of times if he wanted me to help him. His answer was no. He could do it himself.

I was telling him that I would need to get a wheelchair here at home and he asked why. I said because you use that and your walker here so I assume you will want both at home. I don’t know how I said it wrong but he got instantly confused. It ended up with him in tears and wanting a schedule of when he would use what here at home.

The lady showed up for his outing so instead of dragging out explanations and seeing more confusion I left. The meeting came next. I took that deep breath and said a prayer and walked in. The three top office people were there.

I first explained the lunch experience to show his lack of comprehension when you are explaining something new to him. I also wanted to prove my point that Al doesn’t use me out of pity. If he did he would have taken the help with the ice-cream.

I went on to explain about the cookie ordeal where he ate all those cookies and no one seemed to notice. I discussed the issues of the nurse on duty and the chaos she caused the day of the nose bleed. I even blabbed about the dirty brief under his bed, the urine stained pad on his recliner along with mashed food in it.

I ended up making my final point by stating I had not brought Al there to be fixed. I told them Parkinson broke Al and we can’t fix it. I explained about how I wanted him to be social here but now the staff didn’t seem to have time for him.

I talked about the instability of Parkinson’s Disease to cause Al to go from good to bad and back several times in one day possibly. The more I talked the more they wrote their own notes. I told them all in all I wanted Al to have calmness during his stay there and for him to feel like he was worthy of speaking to. I told them that how the nurse disciplines her tough love in her own home doesn’t concern my brother in a nursing home.

The Social Services lady persisted with her idea of letting her bring a Psychologist in to see Al. I said absolutely not. I won’t go into the long story of why I refused. This would be another post in its own. I will say that I have had him to five professionals, top-notch and not one has been able to crack that hard shell enabling Al to release all the garbage that has been stored for years.

In fact it turns Al into a wild animal in a cage. It is dangerous and everyone loses in the end. She argued her point about antidepressants and I said that his doctors and I have had Al on almost all of them on the market. They actually turn Al worse. More drooling, worse tremors, it just isn’t good.

He does take one now and has been for a bout a year. I am for helping Al to see things more peacefully. But at the same time he takes so many medications that at this point when you add new ones there are severe side-effects. I have to weigh the pros and cons and right now because of past experiences I had to say no. In fact I had to tell her no three times before she gave it up.

She made me feel like a huge sinner. Well of course I do sin but in this case she made me feel bad for not approving her idea. Once again I explained I want him to continue his wheelchair therapy and his heat therapy. I hope that I made myself clear about his room and the verbal ways that Al deserves to be treated.

I came home and did a little more of the putting odds and ends in the right rooms, but I was tired and my feet hurt so bad. I just ended up going to bed and stayed there all evening. Now here it is almost four in the morning and I am writing this post.

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Can Anyone Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?

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Cherry Tomato Plant with Lettuces. May 23, 2009.

Cream cheese on a bagel.

English: Mixed berries, dollop of light sour c...

I just hate to go to the grocery store anymore. Believe it or not I used to count around five bags of groceries for about forty dollars a week. These weren’t those flimsy plastic bags either, although I do use them for trash bags too. They were the paper sacks that were filled to the brim, like Folgers coffee, remember the phrase?

So I wish that someone could teach me a few things. I live in an area where I can’t have a garden. But I have heard of planting things in patio pots, like clay pots? What can I plant? When should I buy the seeds and start? What kind of dirt will I need?

Also, I eat  too much dairy according to the blood tests. But I can’t take sugars, white, carbs and dairy totally out. What would I be left with to eat? Veggies? Yes, they are good but do I want to live on them on my dinner plate daily? No.

Can I make my one sour cream? If so how do I do it? Can I make my own cream cheese? If so how do I do it? I am just curious. What makes me madder than a hornet’s nest is paying double price for organic foods. To me organic is what I ate growing up. Foods grown in the garden with no chemicals. Now, I have to pay extra to eat the premium health foods. This is why I want to know about the patio veggie plantings.

Can anyone teach me?

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Daily Prompt; Ready, Set Go/ The Daily Post

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Timer de Cozinha em forma de Tomate

http://dailypost.wordpress.com

Set a timer for ten minutes. Open a new post. Start the timer, and start writing. When the timer goes off, publish.

What? No time to think. A timer set for ten minutes with no preparation? I don’t know if I can do it? Let me think, no I can’t. I must ramble on and hope that this makes sense in the end.

It reminds me of when I go to an interview or maybe when I go to see Al. I know the correct answers. I know how I want to act but will things go my way? What questions didn’t I think of that this person sitting across from me in his gold-rimmed glasses  might be going to ask me? What kind of mood will I hit when I walk into Al’s room?

I usually like to have a basic plan when I set out to do something. Whether it is having family here for a meal, or dining out like the book reading today. When I have no plan, do I look like a lost puppy? Do my eyes give me a way? AW look at her, she is lost. She doesn’t know her way around or how to get home.

Nope, I like a plan. Even my tiny suppers here at home have mentally been planned for a day or two. Looking through the cupboards and the freezer. Taking mental note about what is maybe reaching the expiration and getting ready to commit freezer burn needs to be used up.

Today on the way home from seeing Al I stopped at the grocery store. I picked up lettuce, Roman tomatoes, some ground turkey and shredded cheese. Oops wait, I need some taco seasoning too and a cheap bag of taco chips. No wait one more thing, back down the aisles I go again to get the mild salsa.

You see I knew in my mind what I was going to feed myself over the weekend, but I didn’t have the paper list, so I ended up going down those lanes over and over picking up items. If I would have planned on paper also, I would have been in and out of the grocery store in a lot less time.

As I was getting ready to check out, I had to stop at the frozen ice-cream section. I read all of the boxes that said no sugar added. Did you know that these special boxes with less sugars actually have more carbs in them? It is almost better to eat the regular good stuff with a couple of more sugars because they have less carbs.

In the end I didn’t buy any. I told myself that I didn’t need it. I may be too tempted at night when I am watching the television and have a huge bowl of ice-cream instead of the normal size.

Well I have one minute. Now do you get the idea of how scatter brained I can tend to be with no prior plan. If I looked more in detail at my life, I would probably find this fault in other areas also. But on the other hand, I wouldn’t have so much fun going back over the aisles saying hi to even more people.

Well, time is up!!! See ya.

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Daily Prompt; 32 Flavors/ The Daily Post

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Insert Magazine 92 - Sweet Treat @ Chocolada

http://sarahneeve.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/daily-prompt-32-flavours/#more-1664

Daily Post

Daily Prompt

Vanilla, chocolate, or something else entirely?

I am red and white and oh so cold

I come in a cup and if I may be so bold

I do not share what I doeth eat

You will have to get your own sweet treat

I can actually cost a lot

I dig for change and give all I got

I sit in my corner all by myself

Looking as if I am made of wealth

I take a bite and my eyes do spin

I think it’s the lottery I did win

I let it linger on my lips

I know I know it’s going to my hips

I make each bite last oh so long

Inside my head I am singing a song

This is a treat for me today

To ride my bike along this way

To sit here in the booth, just me

This strawberry cheesecake is my cup of tea

 

Did you figure it out my friends? No chocolate or vanilla for me. It is the Strawberry Cheesecake Blizzard from the Dairy Queen Ice-Cream Shop

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Smiles

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A Japanese elementary school lunch. Spaghetti,...

I went to see Al today. I arrived during his lunch time, so I sat with him while he ate. No one said anything, but it was hard not to notice, that half of his food was on the outside of his mouth. It seemed like the tremors and the aim of judgement was off a little. He did feel it though and wiped his face off.

He was talking to his lunch mate and he was in a pretty good mood. He had eaten quite a bit in my opinion, but a strange combination also. He had the meatballs from spaghetti, no spaghetti, probably because of choking. He also had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,  plus a grilled cheese sandwich and vanilla ice-cream, chocolate milk, white milk, and water. Wow, what a big lunch, and believe me, he ate every bite, and even wiped up the crumbs!

He told me again the story about how he can not go have therapy again, but he did wander into the therapy room this morning, and the therapist said that he could come in and visit anytime he wished. I thought I better check to make sure this was alright, and so I popped my head in and talked to them about what Al had said, and they said yes, he can come in anytime, because his legs are swollen.

They want him to keep his legs up in his recliner, and the nursing staff wants him to walk as much as possible. How do we make both departments happy? I don’t know and hope that they get it worked out.

His heart is being affected, so this is the reason for the swelling, and if you keep your legs down too much, they will swell even more. Al felt better knowing he could go in for help, and so I saw a few more smiles than the day before, which I am trying to forget.

He is going to play bingo tonight and he was looking forward to winning more snacks. He found out that the facility bus takes certain patients out to Wal-Mart once a month, so he is hoping he is going to be able to go the next time the trip is offered.

All in all, it was a good visit. No tears, more chatter. Even with the seriousness of the leg swelling, I was able to put that on the back burner. Some things we can not change.

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Blizzard Treats

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When Al has days that are full of pain, I try to think of things to get his mind off of the pain, even if it was only for a short time. I took him to Dairy Queen for supper, and he had his favorite blizzard, Reese Cup mixed with Reese’s Pieces. He was surel enjoying it.

While there we ran into a class mate of his that he went to elementary special education with and we all three chatted but Al could not remember him at all.

Outside our window seat we saw this train. Al used to scream bloody murder when he heard trains when he was small, and he also screamed like this when he got his hair cuts. I think these ages were around five or six. Neither of us at that age had been taken out into the public, so the whistles from the trains, and the shears scared him to death.

These are some of the frozen ice-cream cakes Dairy Queen sales. One year, Al wanted one with an old car for his decoration, when we lived in Florida. While we were there getting his favorite treat, I went ahead an ordered one. It was my error for not asking how much it would be. I thought no more than twenty something, but when I went to pick it up, it was over $30.00. I was shocked, and Al was very lucky that I love him, because I would have told them I didn’t want it after all!

We were all finished with supper, and Al had to use the men’s room. I waited and finally he came out. We were almost to the front door, and he says too loudly, I pooped! I don’t have to take any poop medicines tonight.

I am sure my face turned as red as the roof on the building, and I looked at him, and said let’s go. He asked me, what did I do wrong? I said later. We both left and once in the car, I explained for the third or fourth time, that we don’t talk like that about our bathroom business in public, especially at restaurants. He said sorry, he forgot.

Now we are home and he is with his television relaxing, and feeling five pounds lighter.

 

Al’s Changing Days

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A few days ago, Al got up in his usual morning routine, and came to sit on the couch, instead of doing his breakfast first. He told me in his exact words, that he had the most excruciating pain he had ever felt in his leg. I looked at it but I saw nothing. He told me that his leg was swollen, but my naked eyes could not take it in. From that moment on, the rest of the few following days have been very sad and depressing for him. He has had pain and more freezing. I talked to the nurse and she said the freezing mode of his legs was causing rigidity in them and the muscles were downsizing and he would feel this pain, but they had him on the best pain medications.

He can have moments of joy, but I see mountains of pain and tears. I had pretty well made up my mind to go ahead and place him for his own sake, not mine. It was a difficult time, processing agony for me, but someone had to do it, and my name was being called by the pitcher.

Have you ever had ideas that you thought were so good, only to have them squished like an ant you step on? This is the way I felt after I talked to the professionals and then confirmed what they had said by googling.

Did you realize that there were new health care plans in effect that have been placed recently that make it difficult to place another person, if money is being held in certain trust accounts? There is, and it is sad.

The law now says that for certain trusts, and there are many that are included, have to be paid back to the state, once the person dies. I will not go into grave details, because it is complicated, and most of you are not involved with placement thoughts in your homes, but in the end product, someone , can be made to pay half of what Medicaid paid out when a nursing home patient passes away.

The thing that bothers me is with the new laws coming into effect, and our President forever changing the health care here, one or more persons, could end up having to fork over monies they don’t have in order to help programs get a refund for what they loaned out.

First of all, I didn’t know we were being loaned money. I thought we paid in through all those little items showing up on our paychecks for years and years, but then, I remembered how in debt our country is and the threats of social security not even being there for ones younger than us is real.

On top of all that, I was given a quote of over five thousand dollars to do all the paper work for the trust to properly make it into a state program.

Did you also realize that once you are admitted to a nursing home or some other type of home, you are sometimes giving up your home and your money assets, and did you know that if the person changes his mind a while down the road, and wants to come home that there are no monies there for further care and help at home?

It is sort of no win situation, unless you are so severely mentally handicapped, that everyone knows there will never be a return home, or you are so elderly, you would also fall into this category.

I have made my final decision to not place, and to hire extra or give more hours to caregivers in order for Al and I to have our breaks in our routines

Last evening, although I saw tears most of the day, he was willing to go out to a drive-thru supper and continue on to a car show here in town. Both went fairly well, except the car show. I got the scooter out and placed together, and got him situated in the driver’s seat, and off he went, but instead of stopping and talking to all of the owners and everyone on the street, he made quick loops around the show as if he was the driver of a race car in a hurry to win. He came back to where I had been relieving my back pain by sitting on a chair, and sat there, tears running down his face for no apparent reason.

I asked him if he was finished looking at the cars and he said nothing. I asked him if he would like to have some ice-cream that was being sold for the event, and he nodded in affirmation. He scooted and I walked over and bought him a nice two-dipper and had it placed in a bowl instead of a cone. We walked back over to my single chair, and I gave him the bowl and spoon, and he sat there, doing nothing. His tremors were acting up, so my heart was bouncing around at each time the bowl tipped to this side and then the other. He did not try to take a spoonful of the ice-cream, that I would have gobbled up, myself, but knowing it was full of sugars, I left it alone.

I asked him if he wanted help with eating it and he nodded yes once again. So I spoon fed him. I had also had to do that for the same day at breakfast. He had waffles and could not cut them up to eat them, nor could he place bites in his mouth. The tears were running down his face as I was feeding him his ice-cream, as I knew in my heart, we were out in public, and he was dying inside of embarrassment from people watching him being fed, although, I did not see anyone particular stare at him or I, and certainly, no one came to our side and questioned either of us why this adult was being fed by someone other than himself.

After the treat was finished and the bowl and spoon were properly disposed of he made no movement, so I asked him if he was ready to leave, and he said yes. He talked! Yes, I am ready to go home.

I am not sure how much he enjoyed this time out, but I do know it was not as much as he used to. I put him in the car, and tore the scooter apart, and we took off for the comforts of his bedroom and his bed, that he is coming to know better each week, as he lies more on it now to watch television.

I have hired a new caregiver for respite care, and I can only hope that she took heed of my words, that I only want someone who is interested in being with Al, and staying long enough to get to know him, and that I will not tolerate excuses of why you can not be here, unless God has called me and told me you have passed on. She is to start Tuesday of the following week for four hours. We shall see how it goes.

Now that I have slept on all of this new information thrown at me, and I see how Al is becoming, I ask for prayers in hiring another caregiver who can give more hours on a daily basis, helping him with feedings and showers . I would love to have a caregiver that will be here for six hours a day, Monday through Friday, the same caregiver who would shower him, help with his feedings, when needed, and to spend quality time with him. I do not like having caregivers with different names for different jobs. Let’s find one who can do it all for Al’s sake of security in one person, and also my sanity when I go to pay the person, and have to keep looking back at the books to see how many hours this or that person worked this week.

I know that many of you pray for Al and also for me, but I am asking for bigger request. One caregiver, who will stand by us and stay with us until everything is in order.

Super Sweet Blogging Award And Family of Bloggers Award

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http://forhisgloryandpraise.wordpress.com

Bonita has honored me with two awards today. One is the Super Sweet Blogging Award. Isn’t the symbol adorable and looks good enough to eat?

Also, she nominated me for the Family of Bloggers Award!

Bonita is a Christian woman who seems to be able to do everything, even when she is having her bad days of pain. She writes very inspirational blogs. Make sure to check her site out!

For the Super Sweet Award you must answer these questions:

a.  Cookies or Cake?, cookies or cake, as long as they are home made. I usually buy the store bought cake mix that is less sugar and the same for the frosting.

b.  Chocolate or Vanilla?, always chocolate, it is a girl’s best friend, next to diamonds!!

  c.   What is your favorite sweet treat?  ice-cream, vanilla with chocolate syrup. I don’t keep it on hands much, because I would never stop opening the freezer door. Al did have an obsession with ice-cream, and we were having it every night. Thank goodness that obsession is over!

d.   When do you crave sweet things the most?  In the evenings, I hate it! No matter what time we have our dinner, in the late evening I want to snack. I try to snack on proteins, although my mouth is watering for sweets!

e.   If you had a sweet nickname, what would it be? quiet girl, it fits me anymore, but it used to be big mouth!!!!

Nominate a bakers dozen:

Genie
palestinerose.wordpress.com/

Margarita
mysmallstillvoice.wordpress.com

chris9911
chris9911.wordpress.com

sbcallahan
thedrsays.wordpress.com

8 kids and a business
8kidsandabusiness.wordpress.com

jlhall1107
fghallfamily.wordpress.com

mypenandme
mypenandme.wordpress.com

thoughtsfromanamericanwoman
thoughtsfromanamericanwoman.wordpress.com

viveka
gravatar.com/pusspudding

on thehomefrontandbeyond
onthehomefrontandbeyond.wordpress.com

jmgoyder
jmgoyder.wordpress.com

camsgranny
gravatar.com/camsgranny

charlesmashburn
charleslmashburn.wordpress.com

For the Family of Bloggers Award:

Make sure to pay credit to the one who nominated you

Place a link to the one who nominated you on your award page

Tell what attributes you bring to the family, using an anagram of the word FAMILY.

F.- Funny at times

A.- Assistant, always helping someone in need

M.- Mad woman LOL, sometimes I feel like I am going mad!!

I.- Insight, I seem to be able to feel or see what others are trying to express

L.- Loving, I always have plenty of love for others who need it

Y.-  Yearning, I always have a yearning to learn more in the medical field, therefore being able to do more for others.

These answers are my own answers. You will need to replace them with your own.

Nominate at least 4 other people to be in your family of bloggers, and for this award, and notify them of their nomination.

carolynpageabc
abcofspiritalk.wordpress.com

paulaacton
paulaacton.wordpress.com

fgassette
francineinretirement.wordpress.com

ceciliag
thekitchensgarden.wordpress.com

 

Thank you Bonita for both of these awesome awards! God bless.

 

People

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English: Eurobait in England are a maggot bree...

I am still staying tough! It is a good thing, because I was put to the test a while ago. I am not sure what was going on in the beginning, but when we got ready to leave, it was a nice feeling.

I took my brother and I out to dinner, since we hadn’t been anywhere too much. Al’s new medication is causing more sleepiness, so we are staying home a little more.

At the restaurant, everything seemed alright. It was very busy, and we ended up sitting right behind a huge birthday party celebration. Things were normal as we sat down, even with all the people so close, but as their young ones started finishing their own dinners, all hell broke loose at our table.

We were sitting very close to the ice machine, and of course it was a very busy station, with the heat of summer. I believe there was many droppings on the floor of shaved ice, but I didn’t get my nose to the floor and inspect it. Al is telling me there is something on the floor, and I look at it and see the shaved ice? I tell Al what I think it is, and he swears it is not ice. He says it looks like it did when he used to sort dirty mops at his long time job, so he knows what it is, or I should say they are, since there were many, many of these pieces.

Al says they are maggots. I tell him no, they could not be maggots, because we are in a restaurant, and also if they were, the workers would clean it up. He is adamant in his belief. Maggots, and his voice is getting a tad too high. I try my best to hush him up, by not arguing any longer with him, or trying to ignore his conversation at this point.

He takes his glasses off and stares hard at them, like he is gunning an armed man down. With squinted eyes, and an eye to object contact, he is still going on about these so-called creatures.

Finally, I get him to stop. Meanwhile between him and the big party to the back of him, the youngsters are running back and forth between Al’s chair and their own chairs. Al never quite gets set straight on any chair anymore. We are training now to back up to an object, feel it with the back of your knees, then sit, but we aren’t trained yet, so he is half on and half off, and one of his feet are sticking out a smidgen to the side. A youngster runs through and steps on Al’s foot.

Al starts crying big tears, jumbo size, and I know everyone in our section of the room could hear his words coming out about his poor toes. I sympathize with him, because his toes are so bent, from the Parkinson’s, that although it was a child, it had to hurt.

I have no doubt, that the party heard him, but they were too involved to sit the child down, and nothing was said. I gave the glare look, the look that says if you touch my brother again, you won’t be able to walk! They ignored me.

I turned my attention back to Al and tried to comfort him the best I could in this packed arena, but he was slowing much farther down, than he usually does, and trying to eat and cry and wipe your nose and tears, just don’t mix well.

A Christian turns the other cheek, but I have to admit, I was upset for Al, and I wanted to turn their cheek, but I remained strong. I asked Al if he was ready to go, although he still had food on his plate. With his mentality issues, he knows he doesn’t leave without his ice-cream for dessert. So even while crying and wiping, he wanted his ice-cream.

I thought quickly, and tapped my mind for an answer so that both of us could get up and leave this noisy joint. Bingo! I had it! I ask Al if we could stop by the store on the way home, and I would pick him up a whole gallon of his favorite ice-cream, and just leave this messy ice-cream here, and he nodded yes. Thank you Jesus!! We got up and left, and he cried all the way to the store. I parked, ran inside, and quickly moved to the frozen section, grabbed the loot, paid and was out. When he saw his goodies, he smiled, and we drove home. I still remained strong, and we both got out of that mess like the decent human beings that we are.

A Different Fair Event

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Historic photo of the Pine County Fair

Historic photo of the Pine County Fair (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today is the free day of our county fair. Since Al and I had been cooped up within these four walls for a few days because of the heat, I thought he may enjoy getting out for a while. I knew that they were going to  have a special section, that would probably interest him, as it was all antique tractors and old-time farm products.

I asked him after lunch if he wanted to go after he got up from his nap, and he said yes.While Al slept, I cleaned the bathrooms and dusted and swept. This is getting to be a custom for me on Sunday afternoons anymore. Surely, I can find something else to occupy my time besides cleaning!

After he awoke, I got his scooter tore down and into the car. I got some money, for our supper. Why should I cook, when the fair can cook for me? We were already and headed out the door. We got there and there was one handicapped parking spot remaining, and I even think it had my name on it, lol, so I pulled right in. I got Al’s scooter all put back together, double checked to make sure I had not locked my keys in the trunk this time, and off we went.

I walked and he kept up. We did this real good for about ten minutes, then he went limp on me. No more sitting up straight. I kept reminding him to sit up straight, as he came close a few times to running small kids over. The farther we went, the worse it got. I stopped him a couple of times and foolishly explained why he had to sit as straight as he could, knowing inside, it was not his fault, it was the Parkinson’s. Ohhhh, I just want to scream my lungs out at this nasty old Parkinson’s. I think I hate it more than my worst enemy, wait this has become my worst enemy!

I knew he understood why he had to sit up, but let’s face it, if he could, he would. I asked him if he wanted to go home, and he said no. I asked him if he wanted to stop and eat, so he could rest off of the scooter and he  nodded yes. We went to one of the small community food booths that had chairs and benches. Al was able to pull right up to a bench and take three steps from the scooter to a sitting down position.

We were there for about an hour, because being the first day of business, these small places had not organized a pattern yet, so service was very slow. I ran into some old class mates and we mingled for a while, and then finally the food was served.

Do you remember what it was like when your children were small and they started feeding themselves? Remember their messy little faces and fingers? Well, this was Al. He had ordered cheese fries and a cheeseburger, and all the cheese was all over his mouth, chin and fingers. I had no wash cloth with me, but will now put this on my mental list of things I must carry when we are out in public. I got several napkins and cleaned him up after he ate. I think he did enjoy his meal, because not even a mouse, could find a left-over crumb!

So after our tummies were full, we started again around the circle that creates the fair. Since it was free day, we could observe the rides being put together, and I tried playing a game with Al, on what ride might be being put together, but he couldn’t tell, as his face was almost on the handle bars of the scooter. We once again replayed the sit up please game all the way around. By then, he was weak, too weak.

It is hard to judge what Al can handle. At home he sits all the time except meal time, or else he is lying on the living room couch or his bed, so when I see no tears, or hear no bad words, I figure he is having a good day. When I take him out, he has to use his power to make the scooter go, and his mind to direct the scooter. It takes no time at all for Al to be completely drained of energy. I hate not being able to take him anywhere, but I hate it when anything we do wears him out.

I asked him when we had made the second round, if he was ready to go. By then he was all tears as he had run out of strength. He shook his head no. I thought to myself, we can not make it around another time and he doesn’t want to go, so let’s go sit with the seniors who come to the fair to people watch.

On our way to the seating arena, I spot a dairy barn that serves ice-cream. It is Al’s favorite food anymore and so I ask him if he wants a shake. I know he just ate, and he is a diabetic, but with tears and weakness, I say the hell with the diabetes, for one night, and we get him a shake and me a cone.

We go to the sitting area and sit down. Al is trying to get the strength to get the ice-cream in his spoon, and I am debating internally whether to ask him if he wants my help, when up behind Al walks his old boss from his work.

Al had worked for a wonderful christian company for nine years and had the same boss, Scott. When Al saw Scott, he lost control of everything. I had never ever seen tears like this from Al before. Tremors were quadrupled and he could not sit still. I even observed one small spot on his shorts where I believe urine slipped out.

Scott was in awe. I had taken Al there to visit his old work place the first week we came back from Florida. Scott had noticed how big of changes were occurring in Al’s life. Al could no longer even attempt to feed himself, so Scott took the shake from him and fed it to him, while Al cried. Scott kept trying different methods to get Al to calm down, and be able to talk, but nothing worked. After the shake was over, Scott said a prayer there with me for Al. He bade us good night and went on his way, only to come back a minute later and get my phone number, which he entered it in to his cell, so he said he would not lose it.

It was time to go, and getting Al back to the car was a chore in itself, but with God‘s help, we made it. I tore it all apart and got it in the trunk, Al in the car, and we left.

I found out on the way home, that this was another of Al’s goals to do before he passes away, was to see his boss.

I explained to Al that he is dreaming a lot, and I think in his dreams he is having conversations with God and mom, and that although he is ready to die, God may not want him to come home just yet.

Al tells me, he if God loves him, he will take him home.