Well, my mom has reached a stage in her senile dementia where it has gotten very difficult for her to dress and undress herself, and little accidents are becoming more frequent. She has finally reached a point in her condition in which it has become too difficult for me to care for my mother at home and keep her safe.  Caring for my mom by myself there are times I must leave her a lone while I go out to do some shopping and other errands, and I am constantly worried durring the little time I am away.  I realized that for my mom's safety, and to maintain her quality of life it was time for me to start looking for a suitable facility to provide long term care. 

Here I go again. I write an entry, upload pictures, and get a "Server Error".  Of course everything disappears.  So now its time to try it again.

Friday night had a good time with Quinn and AnD friends (Annie Chang, Justice Vancho, and Jamie Lai) at House of Chan Dara in Larchmont Village just south of Hollywood and south of Melrose Blvd on Larchmont Blvd.  This is  great place for Thai and California Fusion food.  The atmosphere is great also.  Quinn wanted to get together with some of his LA friends before heading back to Taipei early Monday morning ( 1 AM ) and this was a good location because they were going to a fashion show later that was not too far away.  Vavy the owner of Chan Dara has been a best friend of mine since university and is like an aunt to Quinn, so Quinn and I enjoy bringing friends here.  The food was great and everyone had a great time.  http://houseofchandara.com

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIEOZCcaXzE

We are all kids...
This is an unofficial video for MGMT

Video: http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H28GzslwUM

Last night Mom woke me out of a sound sleep at about  1 O'clock AM.  She told me she couldn't sleep because her finger was hurting, and she couldn't get her ring off, and would I help her get it off.  Of course I will.  I thought it would be simple, but when I gor up and turned the light on I saw she had some how put her ring on to her left index finger and it was red and swollen to at least twice the size of her right index finger.  This ring was not going to slip off easily, it wouldn't even twist on her finger.  I ask Mom how she managed to get her ring on to her index finger in the first place, and of course she didn't know because she has no short term memory.  What I surmize is that since she has been losing some weight over the last several months the ring no longer fits her ring finger and it slipped off in bed so she tried and succeeded in putting it on a finger that the ring wouldn't slip off of.  The problem was that it was too tight and cut off the veinus circulation in her index finger which then caused it to start swelling, and then this produced pain in her finger causing her to wake up later.   So the ordeal begins, I tried soapy water, and then some very slippery shaving gel which did let the ring turn around her finger, but no way was it going to come off. I knew if it didn't come off  the swelling would soon cut off arterial circulation just like a tournicut and she could lose her finger, so it's off to the Emergency Room at about 1:30 AM.  I knew a small hospital not far away that had an ER and it being an early Wednesday morning with no full moon I figured or hope we would be able to get in and out relatively quickly.  So after a twenty minute drive, Oh! I forgot to tell you I have a sleeping disorder which prevents me from going into restful deep sleep, so the Docs have given me some pretty heavy duting medications to supposedly help so I am also tring to keep myself awake.  So after this 20 minute drive with Mom contiually asking were are we going, and telling me her finger hurts, because she can't remember she has already asked this question and has told me her finger hurts many times we finally arrive at the ER.  Not bad.  The lobby only had two people in it and one other just came right after us. I filled out he papperwork for Mom and turned it in, and after only about a 10 minute wait we were called in to triage and explained the situation. Fine so far.  Then the nurse wheeled my mother into the ER, an apologised to us becuse we would have to wait in the hallway as they were actually full and all the bays(rooms) were occuppied.  So here we are sitting in the hallway, I am trying to keep myself awake and Mom is constantly asking were we are, and then what for, then telling me her finger hurts.  People with memory loss are very impatient. There is no sequence to anything, there is only the mundane present with no memories to make sense out of it.   After about 40 minutes the ER physcian and what looks to be an intern arrive and start asking Mom questions which she has no answers for because she has no idea where she is or what she is there for, but she does know that her left index finger hurts.  Everybody knows what needs to be done.  The ER physcian then pulls this device out of his pocket that is designed specifically to cut rings off fingers. It is a miniture Jaws of Life. The ER physcian clamps it on to the  ring, breifly explains to the intern the proceedure and lets the intern proceed to cut and remove the ring Mom's finger. Everything took less than five minutes. Mom and everybody was relieved. The ER physcian then said he had to write up the Discharge Report and then we could go. It would just be another five minutes. GREAT! I thought.  Then after another 40 minutes of me trying to stay awake, and Mom asking where we are, what are we there for, and why can't we go home, a nurse finally arrives with our discharge instuctions. Just another 20 minute ride back home with Mom asking where are we going, why are we out so late, but nothing about her finger hurting, just wondering why it is a little stiff. Finally Mom is safe at home and will be able to sleep and so will I.  A little over an hour and a half for an Emergency Room visit isn't bad.