I sure wish I’d been keeping notes mom arrived on February 13th took over 2 months for her to quit saying she needed to go home. Then Ben called a week after she got here and said “I just can’t have her in here anymore.” We’ve been telling her that Ben has been staying at Pam and Trey’s so no one is at the house. She keeps saying, “I gave up my driver’s license so I know I can’t be there alone.” Of course we agree. The days have been interesting. For quite a while she thought Bob (her brother) was alive. That was a drastic shift, so I tested her for a UTI, she did have a UTI, so we got her on an antibiotic. It took about 3 days but she stopped saying that about Bob. I also took the pictures I put in the bedroom of Bob down and that helped as well, so that was interesting.
One night she saw me take my contact lenses out. And for the rest of the evening she was saying, “Do I need to take my contact lenses out?” She went through 4 weeks of radiation treatment for the cancer on her nose. She did real well with every single one of those treatments. Her nose is looking good. We’re keeping sunscreen on it but it turns red regardless of her outside. Her back and knees have really bothered her. We have been going to Benchmark therapy twice a week for 5 weeks. He is working with her and last Friday was the last one. We have exercises we do here.
Her dementia has gotten to where she thinks she’s talking to Bob while she’s talking to Ben. She knows that something’s wrong so we talk about it. She is very calm about it and I’m telling her the truth at this time. I know that won’t answer everything in the future but for now the truth gently spoken is working. I tell her she has memory issues called dementia. I have contacted Adult Day Care through the Council on Aging so that she can hopefully join that group one day a week. I’m also trying to get her to go to Range in motion at Bazemore adult center near me. So far no luck.
Her appetite is good she’s sleeping really well. For a few weeks she was having nightmares but I was able to calm her down. Today she primed and painted an old rocking chair we have! She does not want to make decisions at all so it’s better if I just give her something to do. She’s beautifully content. But does continue to say, “When I get home will you help me with this or that.” I say yes. We watch movie and art on YouTube which she absolutely loves.
Mom starts attending an Adult Day Care group, 10am to 3pm. We had a trial run last wee (May 29, 2024, she was not happy. Eventually, she came around and wanted to stay for lunch. So fingers crossed about tomorrow.
 | ReplyForwardAdd reaction |