By RuthAnn Hogue/Whiptail Publishing
My mother, Naomi Hesterman, just returned from a doctor visit. Her medical provider said she is seeing improvement in her strength and mobility since she’s started physical therapy and doing exercises at home. She is recommending that we continue the home health care. They will call me on Tuesday to set up a schedule for moving forward.
Other recommendations from the visit:
1. Mom would benefit greatly by having her family photos in her hands in her own home to reinforce her memory and help her maintain what she has. It is important to have the visuals. Right now, she has two 8X10s that have been created using her original photos, and that is about it. The rest reside with Bryce. It would be in Mom’s best interest to have those mailed to her. It’s been more than a year since they were borrowed.
2. Mom is not in any condition to travel alone. It is not in her best interest to travel far.
3. Mom needs familiar surroundings and stability and it is better to do home health care than to place her somewhere or have her move somewhere. Mom will continue to live here with me until she is no longer able to do so safely. Medical professionals who have been in our home over the past few weeks have deemed this as the best place for her right now and they recommend that she stay.
4. Invitations aside, spending time in humid climates such as those in the Seattle area or the Virgin Islands would not be in my Mom’s best interest. It could make some of her conditions significantly worse and make her unbearably uncomfortable. Because of her diabetes, even a short time in such a climate and the flare up it could cause could take months to recover from after returning to a dry climate.
5. It would be wise for Mom to agree to let me take her back to the dentist she has seen several times here in Maricopa. She claims she is terrified, and I believe her. But we need to go back nevertheless. I will be making an appointment for her as soon as we can get her back in.
Mom says people are calling her and offering to fly her places for visits or that they are decorating a room in purple so she can move in. Please don’t do so right now. It’s difficult for her even when we move a few things around in the house. She can become disoriented even from simple things like the furniture being moved. She does not need the stress of being pulled in various directions. It’s not good for her hypertension.
If you care about Naomi, you will support her in maintaining her health care plan that is being implemented by professionals right here in Maricopa. Also, our ward bishop lives across the street and two doors down. He is in walking distance and by phone. She has run into him before while taking walks. I dare say he is more available to her than any son in law might be who, to the best of my knowledge, travels for work and is rarely home between work and his church callings. In any case, there is no shortage of priesthood here. Nor is there any reason for her to travel to be a missionary. She bore her testimony to her physical therapist and they have discussed religion several times. She is already safe living with her eldest daughter and where she needs to be–for her best interest.
RuthAnn Hogue is the owner and founder of Whiptail Publishing’s WebTechGirl.com and BookTrailerCentral.co. She is an award-winning author and journalist with an Internet Marketing Master of Science and a B.A. in Journalism/Political Science.