Moments of Joy in the Jumble

You guessed it - another Saturday night. We have been to church and IHOP. It has been a very busy couple of weeks around our house and there has not been time to sit down here to note some things. David and Sherriann were here visiting and there a couple of humorous stories to tell about that. I have asked David to be a guest blogger to give you his perspective on their visit in regards to Mom. Hopefully we will hear from him.

Other than that, there has been pretty much the usual chaos with all of us and others, coming and going - floors still being done, new caregiver, working late, taking days off in the middle of the week to go sightseeing, taking dog to the vet - a lot of things that disrupt whatever continuity we are sometimes able to achieve. For the most part, it would appear that Mom has been unaffected by it. I can say that maybe we are just seeing more of the same, but "more" of it. Her sleep patterns are different and she continues to find ways to assert her independence and right/need to control and choose. Mom continues to choose to sleep on top of the covers in spite of fresh clean sheets with lily of the valley print. She continues to hide things in her room and if fact, most of the stuff that have been on shelves in her closet are now put away elsewhere. She has filled her dresser drawers with everything and goes on and on about people going into her room and taking her stuff. In reality, she does not remember that she hid it or where she hid it.

Mom's day to day ability to communicate has drastically decreased. She tries to be involved sometimes and contribute to dialogue but her contribution is almost always disconnected from what is going on. It is more likely, like at dinner or at home, that she is silent and looks around the table as though she is eating with strangers. Tonight at church, Mom greeted a lady sitting near where we sit and spoke loudly to her and insisted on hugging her. I worked at redirecting her and getting her to our pew, saying "shhh" with my finger to my lips. She turned, still being friendly and loud, put her finger to her lips and said she did not want to "shhh". We finally got her settled in but at the beginning of mass during the greeting, she did pretty much the same thing with everyone around her. Going to church is the highlight of her week and she asks every day when I get home, if we are going to church.

Mom has a terrible wheeeez. She refuses the medication and she refuses to give some good coughs and get the gunk out. I will take her to the doctor next week for a regular 3 month followup and I know that the doctor is going to tell her the same thing we do - cough! The wheeez is rather dramatized at times - attention seeking. The congestion is not in her lungs as much as it is just in her throat and vocal chords so that she can speak with a raspy voice. And she does, of course, whenever she thinks it will get attention. Mom loves attention. If it isn't about her it is not worth being part of and she goes to bed.

Becky, our new Energizer Bunny caregiver took Mom to the nursing home to distribute her crafts. Mom loved it and I understand that they loved her. She had an appointment to go back at 2:00 the following day because someone there had something to give to her. In the meantime, mom came home and put her bag of crafts away. The next day when Becky tried to get her out to go back to the nursing home, mom could not find her bag and was certain that "someone" had been in her room and taken it. Somehow, Becky got her into the car anyway and they drove to the nursing home. Mom absolutely refused to get out of the car! Urging, begging, bargaining and promise of ice cream fell flat. Later, she had stories about how Becky tried to drag her from the car. Becky's laughing response when I told her was that she hadn't had her but whooped in a long time and she sure didn't need to get it whooped by a little old lady by trying to drag her out of a car!

We are so blessed, aren't we? With so much lost there are so many other things to rejoice over - like Mom saying the Lord's Prayer from start to finish in church tonight! And her odd but so very important phone conversations with Deena each week as I listen in on speaker phone! Thank you all for your love and support!