I have written here several times about becoming a Caretaker for my aging Mom. In case you haven’t read the previous posts, let me fill you in a bit.

Around 2002 she moved from my house into an apartment in Vero Beach and for the first time in her entire life, she was on her own. My Mom had never lived alone. She went from her parent’s home to marriage with my Dad, and from there to living with me.  She was lonely at first, but she made an effort to get out and meet new friends. For years she was busy, pretty happy and very healthy.  She stopped driving and walked everywhere in Vero Beach. Her hair dresser, Physician and grocery store were all within a 5 mile radius so she had everything pretty well lined up.

Then at 84, things began to change. Her hip joint broke, she had an operation and thats the first we learned of a kidney issue. She recovered, although more slowly than she would have liked, and  for a while it looked like everything was going to go back to how it was.

That wasn’t to be. She was no longer able to walk any distance without tiring easily. Mom couldn’t do her excercises and she just seemed to be not quite herself any more. For the next few years Mom got progressively weaker. Her heart was in afib mode and until she went to get her cataracts operated on last fall, we had no idea. We all thought, including her, that she was just slowly winding down. She ended up in and out of the hospital several times. Her heart was giving her trouble, her kidney function was wayyy down and some days she was so weak she could barely hold her head up.

That’s when I decided to care for her full-time. My sisters have good hearts, and they knew she was being over medicated, but they did not have the same history and knowledge that I have from working in a hospital, becoming a CNA, and taking care of people for the past 10 years.

I began by becoming the one consistent presence at all of her medical appointments. I watched her carefully, and when she took the recommended dosage of medications and those worsened her condition, I was on it immediately and in touch with her physicians. We tweaked and fine tuned her meds, got her in with a great cardio specialist and started  her on Kangen Water. 

Between the medication management, the Kangen Water and regular massage therapy, she is now walking without the aid of her walker, puttering around her apartment, and we just found out her kidney function has improved considerably. I want to thank Ted Del Rosario for introducing our family to the Kangen Water System. I believe, (and this does not come from the company), it’s just a personal opinion, that it made a huge difference for my little Momma.

 

 

Valentina Boonstra