Chose A Lawyer

This step is Long overdue.
But mother has always been a person to avoid talking about anything adult.
Like what she wants after her demise or if she gets ill etc.
I had hundreds of conversations with my father about those things.
Thus I was able to set up things for him accordingly.
Her "answer" was denial of any kind of realistic answer.
After all in her mind she was still in her twenties!

This elder lawyer is someone I went to school with from 1st grade up
and is a FB friend.
I tried to get myself to use another lawyer, but I was SO nervous calling her.
Finding out about this guy made me feel better because I knew
 him to be a calm, gentle person.
He suggested he come to mother's place to cut down on stress and
he would provide the witness.
I got the doctor's consent that he felt mother was competent enough to
sign a POA and healthcare proxy.

So, next month we will get that done and hopefully she wont get crabby
about it or too confused having strangers with paperwork in her place.

Mother

Just tapped on my door and asked if I had any trash to go out
 since she was bringing hers to the trash room.
Her hair was freshly washed and she had on long pants for the chilly morning.
After tossing our trash we exercised a bit and I watched her go home.
She pointed at the apt door before hers and said "one more",
then pointed at her own and said "here it is".
In the past she had to look at the large tag I put on her keys with the apt.
number on it and then look at each door.
Of course I just attribute this to a "good day"
but I cannot help but think it has to do with removing the confusion
the aricept was creating.
It has been almost 8 weeks.

Bodywash looks like hand lotion

Waiting for mother to put sneakers on
I grabbed a bottle of hand lotion off her dresser and put some on my hands.
Ow Ow Ow! Hand lotion isn't supposed to sting!
The bottle said
OLAY Complete - Dry Skin
and in tiny letters--
body wash.
Eeep!
Needless to say I took that bottle home.
On our daily two hour outdoor time I pack a tote for her of kleenex, water bottle,
protein bar, sunglasses.
She drinks alot more from the bottle than she does her glass at home
and it feels like a picnic for her to eat that bar outdoors.
Dementia really makes them a "copy-cat" and they will copy everything you do.

Warmed up a chicken leg and frozen squash for her dinner.
If I put in toaster oven a frozen dinner I set my timer to go off and call her
just incase she doesn't hear her own timer.
Not sure, but I think I am going to stop going up the stairs and take the elevator
even though she insists taking the stairs for exercise.

(I swear that word should be spelled "excersize" !! )

Topple

When I made my morning phone call to mother she said she had fallen when
she got up. I went over and she answered the door.
She said her leg was numb. I think it was that she had sat too long with her
leg crossed.
I could see she had washed her breakfast dishes and gotten clean clothes
out for the day so she had been fine prior.
I checked her circulation and stayed with her for an hour, she was fine.
This happened once a long time ago, she jumped up from chair
and fell back, but the old place wasnt carpeted and she hit her head.
We went for a walk later and there was no foot scuffing or any sign
or neuropathy or balance problems at all.