Hits on the Old Lady Mafia, and the end of the travels of little Mama

It's been a tough summer for the OLM.

Capo Allesandra sold her house after it was on the market for 15 minutes and had to quickly move into a much smaller rental house ASAP. NORMALLY, the OLM would have been right by her side helping her.

Nothing has been normal about the summer of 2007.

In June, da Godmother (me) broke her left arm tripping over her own big feet. (This on the day Mama was moved into assisted living.... more on that later). No pushing, pulling or lifting for Dona Kate until mid-August.

Yvonne (AKA the Enforcer) had emergency surgery on her neck. I have seen the x-rays- what a mess! The doctors fused four cervical vertebrae together and sent her home, where she is making a steady recovery. No pushing, pulling or lifting for her until mid-August, if then.

Consigliore Marcia has been in pain for a week. Lesser beings would have been to the doctor days ago. It looks like her gall bladder has gone belly up and will soon sleep with the fishes. No pushing, pulling, or lifting for her until WHO knows when if she needs surgery.

I knew but didn't know how much we all depended on one another until this bizarre summer. Yvonne and I have been able to help each other out, Yvonne more for me than I for her, but for the most part, it has been every woman for herself in terms of help from the OLM.

Fortunately, we are all blessed with other helpers; Yvonne has her hubby and Kat, a junior OLM, who have taken very good care of her; Sandie has her hubby to help with the move and aftermath; Marcia has her wonderful daughter, Melinda, also a junior OLM. And I have my PA Stephanie, my son and daughter-in-law, Yvonne, and even had the help of my daughter for a couple of days, so we have all come through all right. Still, I can't remember a time when we were ALL laid low at the same time. Hope it NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.

In the meantime, God bless us, everyone.

Now, back to the continuing saga of Mama: she had a stroke in April and was in a convalescent home until we could make arrangements to move her into an assisted living facility. When I say we, I do not mean Dave. On June 14, while Kelly was in town, we got Mama moved into her new digs- and I broke my arm. (Thanks to Kelly, Becca, Kendall, Haley, Delaney, Emily, Yvonne and Kat for all the help, by the way. We really got the place looking fantastic!) Mama seemed to love her new apartment, and we were all delighted.

Of course, it didn't last. Mama fell into a deep depression and began acting out- BIG TIME- and then she fell ill and ended up back in the hospital, severely dehydrated, completely delusional and disoriented, with dangerously low blood pressure. She had lost weight because she was refusing to eat. As soon as she regained her physical health, she was sent to Winchester to Senior Advantage, in hopes she could be restored to mental health as well.

She spent almost two weeks there, and is now back at the Assisted-Living facility, where she is doing very well. She is eating properly and taking her medications, she is making friends and "going visiting" with her fellow residents, and her sense of humor has re-emerged. She is suffering from moderately advanced dementia, but the meds they have her on seem to be a god-send. The other day, Mama was trying to figure out how many people lived there with her, and she was using the dining arrangements to make the determination- 4 people per table; she began counting by 4s- 4, 8, 12, 16, clearly trying to visualize the dining room as she counted, until she finally said "There must be at least 36 people living here". I was gob-smacked, grateful and relieved to see her figuring things out. She also explained her schedule to me, rather than the other way around, so... cross your fingers, light a candle, say a little prayer. There may be some good days ahead for Mama. Her daughter Rita is coming for a short visit early in August, and it would be wonderful if they could have a really good time together.

Gotta go. Waiting on repair men and estimates. Sigh.


OH, BY THE WAY... want a kitten?