September Through November Updates

9/29/2010

Mom was on microdantin (anti-bacteria medication for the bladder) from Nov. to June. I took her off of it because she complained about her pills and it also had the side effect of making her sleepy and weak. Dang, she got something back about a week ago and has been in extreme pain since. She had an infection when I took her in to her urologist, yet when cultured, nothing grew. So we put her back on micro. She continued to be in pain so I took her back yesterday. Again, her urine is clear of infection, but I convinced the doctor to give us something else to see if it would stop the pain. He changed the medication and with just one pill I think it is working. She was fine yesterday and her elevator went to the top several times.

Late in the evening I found her crying and crying. She was upset because I wouldn’t take her to Laura’s house to see her daughter. She knew that school was starting soon and wanted to know if her daughter needed new clothes. She is convinced she has a younger daughter out there somewhere. When I talked her through that one then she wanted to know where the other man was. She is convinced that I was living with a different man that I sent away and that then Lynn showed up. That particular fantasy I cannot shake from her mind. She doesn’t know why I am doing this to her. I also keep hiding young girls in the house and making them sleep on the bathroom floor. I also keep trading out Lynn for the other one every other day or so.

My sister used to spend hours trying to talk sense into mom. My saying then is the same as now, “You can’t make sense out of nonsense no matter how hard you try.” I think I can take anything except the crying. Her telling me I’m fat and that she never expected me to get so fat comes a close second.

Thank goodness our family comes with staying power. I’ll make it through this because, well, I have to.

11/19/2010

I haven’t sent updates since Mom’s attitude and abilities were continuing to deteriorate very quickly. When I took her for her visit to the Neurologist and tried to get advice on how to better help her with her decreased energy and increased listlessness he prescribed Prozac. No way was I going to give her that drug because it added to her Namenda and Aricept would definitely completely incapacitate her. (According to Lynn who knows these things). So what to do? I had already begun to reduce one of her medications and was moving some from evening to morning and vice versa. Now what?

Judy came to the rescue. With her advice I called a nutritional adviser. I ordered the nutritional tonic and started her on one ounce a day. We also discussed possibly removing one of the medications if she responds to the tonic. The tonic had an immediate effect!!! She now is more alert and can carry on a conversation. She still is far from her old self, but a whole lot better. I am so relieved and thankful. I am realistic and know that this could be temporary or could just be my imagination, but I’ll take it.

Today she wanted her nose hair trimmed. She wanted to go have her hair dyed and styled. She also realized that it was Friday and that we could go have clam chowder. Her ability to make these determinations has me so relieved. I keep using that word because I guess I have been very un-relieved lately watching her struggle with her loses of memory. Every time she asks for her young daughter and wants to make sure I buy her a sweater and new shoes for school my heart aches.

So . . . . a huge thank you to Greg for offering to help, Geeb and Tiffany for coming to my rescue and staying with mom in December, and for Judy and her excellent advice. I don’t know what I would do without all of you and all the support you have given me especially this year. I’m making a detailed list of what mom prefers and her daily schedule to make things easier for Geeb and Tiffany, so for today LIFE IS GOOD.