Thankfully, yesterday ended better than it began. After a nice peaceful morning, which included a phone call telling me mom was leaving that day, Rick and I went to tour the places that would accept mom with her current medical conditions. This is not a job I wish on anyone. Dear god, some of these places are horrible. I was ready to commit mom to the mandatory 15 hours of therapy required at HealthSouth even though I knew she couldn’t do it. And then we went to Handmaker. What a comfortable, kind atmosphere. The rooms were the nicest. And the menu-wow. The choices are amazing. And the items you can get off menu, such as latkes with applesauce, herring in sour cream or wine sauce, fish and chips, would make her very happy!

We went back to TMC and talked about what all we had seen. When I showed her the menu at Handmaker, she was in! And she said this is the perfect place-I’m half Jewish! Really? Good to know. She used to tell me we were a schtickel Jewish, but okay.

The medical transport came around 6:30 to take her to Handmaker. Tyler and I followed with her stuff. She loved her room. The tech that helped her get settled asked what made us choose Handmaker and before I could answer, mom said the food! This could work well….fingers crossed!

Visiting hours are 24/7. If the front door is locked, the code is the odd numbers and then * (13579*). Hers is the first hallway to the left of the lobby. The room number is 124B and the direct phone number is 750-7191. When you want out of her hallway, the code is 1939*.  Handmaker is Kosher, so if you bring in food that is not kosher (like pepperoni pizza) you have to eat it in her room.

I like that there are social activities as well as therapy available. I’m hoping we see some improvement here, if not physically, at least emotionally. We are moving the cancer treatment to Arizona Cancer Center. Finally. We’ve all had enough bullshit and are ready for some honesty. We are hoping to find it there.

I got to talk to a few friends this morning and it was so nice! Especially since I got a call this morning from my mom asking about what time we needed to be at the airport. When I asked where we were going, she hung up on me. I tried calling her several times with no success. When I finally got through, she told me she thought we were flying to Amsterdam today. Yikes. She also told me how much she likes it at Handmaker and how nice the people are. So……we can all exhale!