Posted 1/4/19 later
Had a 3.5 hour visit with mom today. It started off rough. I couldn’t find mom in the normal haunts, then found her in a neighboring room super angry/anxious and partially missing her top. She had made a mess of herself and the kind nurse was trying in vain to get her to change. Anger. Tears. Frustration. Loudness. 15 minutes later I got her chilled out long enough to sit down, then went to the door to shut it to try to redress mom. One of the Sweet 17, looking into her room and seeing mom’s clothing issue, looked over to me and said stoically “Yes. That’s pretty much how they look” and snorted with a semi-smirk. Her meltdown didn’t seem to faze the residents in the ward. Shortly later she put her top back on. Sigh…the things you experience in the ward that you would have never dreamed of.
My next plan was to chill her out and try to redirect her well enough to lessen her anxiety, so we paced the hall end-to-end for about 30 minutes, looking at pictures and doing a square dance move at the end, then heading back . I got my daily steps in, for sure.
The next 3 hours were essentially and sadly word salad talk. Mom talked a-mile-a-minute, but sadly only had a handful of rational statements. It gets tiring because I do my very best to listen for anything and find stuff that I can cling to in “conversation”. I try to honor her by listening empathetically and affirming her where I can.
The only break was a nice visit by her speech therapist (see pic) who was testing mom’s ability to chew and swallow. Mom puts food…and pills (!)…in her mouth and leaves them there. It is likely a sign that her swallowing is failing, common in late term Alzheimer’s. 🙁
On a lighter note: Earlier in the day my stepdad found mom’s new glasses on another Sweet 17 member. He commandeered them back kindly. She, having lost her new glasses, snagged a set off the nose of another lady who didn’t seem to mind. I wonder if mom’s dentures were passed around like that? Lol .. OK, ladies, when the song stops, grab some teeth!
There were moments of smiling, mom said a few funny things, and when I left she was eating and about to have more meds. Never a dull moment in the ole memory unit.
#EndALZ
Note: the pictures always look so
chilled out. I try to not post or even take anything but either goofiness or a
smile. Some days are easier than others for that. I don’t want FB memory
pictures popping up on my feed of the bad times next year and beyond…