Gift ideas for 85 year old MIL

[JenBayles]

We just spent yesterday and half of today with Dave's mom. I must admit, at 85, the woman is really a dynamo. She drove 3.5 hours from Wimberley, TX to west Houston, and didn't bat an eye. However, this visit really hit home that her hearing has gone right out the window. It's extremely obvious that she's missing about 50% of what is going on around her. Dave and I remember how badly she whined about her brother Ed not using his hearing aids, and now she's doing the same thing. "There's nothing wrong with ME!" Yeah, right! So, Dave and I will be looking at hearing aid options very soon.

Since MIL does so much driving, we also learned today that she has no idea what to do if she breaks down on the highway, so we'll be getting her a AAA membership. That's far easier than trying to convince her she shouldn't be driving any longer. I went through this mess with my 93 year old grandfather a few years ago. He thought he was just fine even though several times he used the off-ramp for Interstate 45 in Houston as an on -ramp. Thank God he never caused any accidents.

[Bobbie Lee]

My mother, age 78, also refuses to use a hearing aid. I think it's just plain rude of her to make us all shout at her.
The AAA membership is a good idea!

[angelwing]

I dealt with a 95% hearing impaired father and a legally blind mother who both insisted that they didn't need any help, sigh. The AAA is a great idea for her, will be thinking on what other gift ideas...is there any specific store she loves to shop at? A gift certificate would be good or a gift certificate to the mall (not the gift cards)

Good luck with trying to get her to wear her hearing aids, Lord knows it took my brother and I about 30 years to get my dad to get his!

[JenBayles]

Truthfully, the woman gets on my last nerve anyway, (and Dave's as well!) but it's even worse now that she's missing so much of what's going on around her. She knows she can't hear worth shite, but is so proud of being 85 and having "no" health problems, she doesn't even want to talk about it.

Dave was just put on blood pressure meds so I bought him a bp monitor to track how well the meds are doing. Just for grins, we all 3 tried it out on Thanksgiving. MIL's was waaay up there. "I don't have high BP! There's nothing wrong with me!" Yeah, after 3 readings with the bottom number over 100.... nothing wrong here...

[Cookiely]

Truthfully, the woman gets on my last nerve anyway, (and Dave's as well!) but it's even worse now that she's missing so much of what's going on around her. She knows she can't hear worth shite, but is so proud of being 85 and having "no" health problems, she doesn't even want to talk about it.

Dave was just put on blood pressure meds so I bought him a bp monitor to track how well the meds are doing. Just for grins, we all 3 tried it out on Thanksgiving. MIL's was waaay up there. "I don't have high BP! There's nothing wrong with me!" Yeah, after 3 readings with the bottom number over 100.... nothing wrong here...

At least she's not asking you to take the BP every ten minutes like my grandmother. She was taking hers every half hour around the clock.

[Tstormwatcher]

My inlaws are the same way. My wife's father badly needs a hearing aid but refuses because a doctor told him that it wouldn't help. that was some 40 years ago. her mother is losing her hearing and her memory but will also do nothing about it.