Posted 1/9/19
Long visit with mom
today. The report when I got there was a roller coaster day. I was shocked. I
expected her to be sitting in a hammock drinking a virgin mojito. Lol
Overall, today was a very nice visit. She has taken her meds perfectly for 48
hours now.
Sure she was nervous.
Sure she said a couple extremely inappropriate things to me and/or about me.
Sure her hygiene is a mess. Baths are a herculean task…one apparently too
challenging right now.
Sure she picked up stuff on the floor a lot…each time looking wobbly.
Sure she placed quite a bit.
Sure she took off and put on her coat 10 times.
Sure she cried when I left.
Sure she obsessed over many things.
Sure she had an eye out of whack.
She tried on her newly found lower denture plate…then took it out and seemed
to try to break it. Back in the teeth jar for them…
Sure she fell twice in the last 2 days with no permanent damage, but her hand
is hurting and swelled and actually was worse when I left than when I arrived.
Wait…Where was I going with this?????
Oh yes, the “good visit” part.
Mom’s xrays were negative. She even consented to her back
xray…a late Christmas miracle in and of itself.
Mom was more lucid than normal.
She misplaced or misused many words in most sentences, but they truly had a
point several times. Not typical over the last month…
She said extremely sweet and genuinely kind things to me in her best words.
She thanked me for coming.
She recognized a couple numbers on the exit pneumatic door pulls that
corresponded with the month and day of her birthday.
She played the piano better than the last week or two.
🙂
We drew together for an hour since we couldn’t find coloring books again…and
she did some cute things.
🙂
She was funny.
Part of the cruel part of Alzheimer’s to the caregiver and the family visitor like me is the “getting my hopes up” part. (Note: What follows excludes miracles, which I do believe in and could happen…but I also yield to God and His prerogative/perfect will.) I would love to say “Wow, maybe mom will be ok or live for several years like today?”. There is a sense that she may improve at times… like today. But, she has lost much of her brain mass already, including “important parts”, as if some don’t matter. We shield our emotions to not want to be excited lest we arrive tomorrow with her half naked and mumbling incoherently. (Equally likely on average over the last week and month) Join me in trying hard to stick in the mom 2.0 realm. Focus on that and enjoy/savor it. The old mom won’t be back. and it is unfair to expect that of her. But, 2.0 was the bomb today. It blessed me and brought me a smile that this stupid disease will not take away.
#EndALZ
