Father

They found him wandering around confused.
Urinary infection once again.
I cannot imagine him living this way
with a catheter and prostate cancer.
He may be 90 in April.

Like A Balloon

My mother is like a balloon.
Every day at some point Alzheimer floats her away
Into a world of complete confusion.
I grab the string
and pull her down
To ground her once again
for a little while....

Amazing Interaction

After being in such a confused state this morning
my mother for the first time actually recognized someone!
Not only recognized her, but interacted with her!
She playfully bumped the other person's wheelchair
with her rollator saying "Oops!"  laughing.
Went over to the girl and did this- I am amazed.

Calming Down

Mother was quite confused this morning.
At least I can go right over and get her back on track.
 unfortunately I am still a-quiver with adrenalin an hour later.
Spoke with a woman here who is going through
this alone with her husband. She takes him out for a
car ride twice a day! She cannot go grocery shopping or
anything any more and her children dont want to stay
with him because they will fight with him.
I cannot imagine going through this without
a computer for information.

Funny

Helping mother wrestle into clothing always makes us laugh.
She usually has on too much with wearing longjohns underneath.
This morning I helped her on with a shirt only to find that the shirt
under it was backwards.
So off came both shirts and with them up came her brassiere.
Her floppy boobs had to be put back "in" and I had her
lean forward to do this trying to coax them into place.
omg it was so funny we were laughing.

New Lessons and Insight

I just read this post and learned a few things.
http://cleaninghousebook.blogspot.com/2014/03/dementia-mysteries.html

My father has the "grip of death" that would bruise my arm,
the only other person I know that did this was also what I
would call a 'mean' person.
Perhaps it is a matter of loss of  fine motor skills instead,
I was quite surprised reading the post!
Another thing I had read but knew already was how people
with dementia have a narrowed field of vision.
I already naturally touch my mother before doing things
like put her hearing aids in.
If I dont she is startled even though I am right there beside her.
I think it is more a state of mind more than an actual vision
problem. She can only focus on what is in front of her.
It has taken me years to keep my mouth shut while she walks
and eats. omg this has been so hard to learn!
She also insists that i speak to her face - something she used to
do before she got her hearing aids.
 Now I realize it is a case
of focus. Especially now that her brain is hearing nonsense
as well as speaking it.
I am Always learning

Mother's Window View

While sleepily laying on her couch looking out
her window my mother said
"That's nice, (pointing out the window)
I like that".....
This was amazing and made me happy.
When she moved in here, she hated the view of the cliff
out her window.
It actually isnt that bad covered with trees, but many other
residents dislike the lack of 'view'.