I know this is TLDR, but I just need to vent a little.
My mom is 95 and still lives alone. Two years ago, she fell and hit her head, and I found her unresponsive in bed the next morning. She had bleeding on her brain and had to have a hole drilled in her head to drain fluid. She has fully recovered physically, but her mental faculties have taken a pretty severe decline. It's not like dementia; she recognizes everyone, and her long-term memory is still good, but her short-term memory is just about completely gone. I end up having virtually the same conversation with her every day. She lives in the same townhouse that she and my dad lived in for 40 years, so she is really comfortable there and can function reasonably well there. She has just about completely lost the ability to operate any technology. I had to have her oven replaced, and she can't operate it at all. She can still operate her microwave and her coffee pot, but if either one dies, and I can't replace it with the exact same one, she will probably lose that ability. I have a caretaker who comes five mornings a week and makes sure she gets up, gets dressed, and has breakfast. She has a housekeeper who comes and cleans and does laundry. I go over every day in the afternoon and sit with her for a while, make dinner, and make sure that everything is turned off before I leave. I do all of her shopping, take her to all of her doctor and dental appointments, make sure that all of her prescriptions are filled, and that she takes her medicine every day. If something at her house needs fixing, I'll take care of that. I used to take her to church on Sunday, but thankfully, she now prefers just to watch it on tv. Of course, she can't operate her tv anymore, so I have to be there every Sunday morning for that. I have three siblings, but none of them live very close (Austin, Baytown, and Bellville). Thankfully my two sisters do come in every Friday so that I get a day off. One of my sisters does handle all of her finances, so at least I don't have to worry about that. I don't really worry too much about her being alone because all she does it sit in her chair and read her western novels. I do have to keep her well supplied with those, although with her memory problems she can read them over and over again. My two sisters have been talking about moving her to an assisted living facility, but I know that if that happens she will die within a few months. Her mother was just like that. She lived alone in her house in Wharton until she was 95, She got sick and my mom moved her to an assisted living facility near her in Houston, and she died within a few months. My mom does love my dog Sebastian, so he goes with me to her house on most days, but I have to be careful that he doesn't knock her over (he weighs 86 lbs). My mom lives close to Tanglewood dog park, so Sebastian and I usually stop there for a while and decompress a little. Taking care of my mother every day, and my Autistic and intellectually impaired daughter four days a week gets a little overwhelming at times. On Sundays, cook a big lunch after church, so I don't have to go back and cook dinner for her. Usually, on Sunday after my daughter's soccer practice, Sebastian and I will go to the ranch and spend the night. He loves to run all over it and chase the Longhorns, and I get a chance to just sit on the porch and chill. As long as I am back in Houston on Monday afternoon it usually works out fine. I am at the point now that I am seriously considering selling my house and moving in with my mom. She has two bedrooms upstairs that I could move into, and she never goes upstairs any way (thankfully). The only real down side to that is Sebastian. I think it would be a little difficult for him without any kind of a yard. My mom's townhouse only has an atrium that's about 10 feet by 20 feet, and that's not very much for a dog his size. Sebastian has been my rock through all of this. He can sense when I'm feeling down and he'll come over and nudge my hand until I start petting him to calm down. His favorite pastime is to lay next to me on the sofa, with his head in my lap, and sleep while I watch Longhorn baseball. Any way, that's my life. If you actually read any of this, I thank you. I feel better just typing it out.