I'm tired of cooking/preparing 3 meals a day. It's just the two of us but boy oh boy can that woman eat!! She stays slimish, I get fattish. It's bad enough I do everything here much less start making her one thing and me the other. At times I feel guilty when I buy her fast food cuz of the nutritional value....not to mention I eat it too.
I get so p****d off when I am half way through a post and some add covers the page and when I get back to my answer it has disappeared.
Rant over
Something is sure going on with your mom and her sleep episodes. I can see falling asleep in the chair... not the shower. When is her next Dr. appointment? Between the sleep and the rapidly progressing forgetfulness I'd say it's time for a complete check-up. Sometimes, it's something minor that brings on these major changes, like dear hope's mama.... thankfully it was an abscessed tooth and easily treatable vs end of life. YAY for hope's mama!! Anyway, yeah... check up time with full blood screening. I'm sorry you have to go through this... I know what yours and your mothers plan is for the future... it is never easy.
1butterfly, my mind won't let me even imagine caring for 2 loved ones with dementia, let alone 1. Bless you for even attempting it!
I'm thankful mom has dentures :) just a plop plop and fizz and all is right as far as her teeth go. Now, if only I could get her to SIT and RELAX for awhile. Her feet swell up so much from the constant pacing and standing on them for hours at night. Last night was no exception either... 4 times I was up chasing the boogey men away... trying to convince her they've all left and went to bed was an ordeal in itself. She's finally zonked out in her recliner and I think I shall just let her sleep for awhile. Her carer will be here at 1:00 and Sydney and I are escaping to river. We love that park... yesterday we went for a brisk 5 mile hike from one end of the park to the other round trip. Parts of the neatly kept pathway goes through the woods, the other parts are along the river. Right now, since we've had a lot of rain the river is very high... it's exhilarating and good for the waistline :D
As for mom, it was so much easier for her to put on a dress. No skirts and blouse. Simple to put on and take off. No struggles. Maybe you can try buying simple but pretty dresses. I don't know about you, but for me, to bend down to put my legs one at a time inside a skirt is... like trying to stand on one leg without falling to the floor. And to bend down, puts pressure on my belly - which I don't like to feel (reminds me that I need to exercise.) And then after that, to put on my blouse. So much hassle. I've got rid of most of my skirts and bought more dresses. Easy on, easy off. Maybe buy one dress. And then persuade your mom to put it on. When done, you can point it out to her in the mirror how so pretty she looks (if she has no aversion to seeing herself in the mirror). When I used to sew for my mom her 1 piece simple dress, I made sure it was pretty colors. She liked wearing it. Her favorite was the fancy plain black satiny material dress. It was so simple but made fancy by the material I bought. (Expensive material, too!!!)
Michele
Another sunny day here, coolish, and I think I am going to do a little cooking just because I want to. I love to cook but kind of lost all interest over the last couple of years and especially since Mama doens't "eat" anything but ensure these days...but I am going to do it just because I can....
I am sooooo thankful today. Mama is doing so much better and my meds have finally gotten regulated it seems so I am feeling a LOT better too....The upping of the dosage on the depression meds helped a lot and I am staying with those exactly like I am supposed to and it does seem to be helping a lot....Things aren't perfect, I can't fix a lot that I wish I could fix...but I am fully aware of how blessed I am and so very thankful Mama is feeling so much better......
Hoping and praying for a blessed Thanksgiving for all of us....this is hard and often lonely and often sad, but I am trying to find comfort and even joy in my memories...and I think that would make Mama happy....she looks so cozy over there in her pretty lavender sheets and fluffy comforter...that makes me happy too.
Other than that, most of us on here a quite strong resilient care people.
hope, I can just picture the loveliness of your mother lying there, feeling ever so much better!!
In the past I would start to panic the day before I had to drive my parents somewhere, would lie awake getting maybe 2 to 3 hours of sleep, year after years, going on 6 years. My body said ENOUGH ALREADY, this is going to send you into an early grave.
And with Dad saying he will start driving again [at 93] since I can't just throws more stress onto me... oh the guilt.
I was raised by helicopter parents who did all the bidding for me, thus I would stand back and let them take charge. Oh how I wished I had siblings, what a great learning experience to fend for yourself and learn how to interact with each other as kids. Yes, I know it can change when everyone gets older. But the experiences are always there.
My two oldest brothers stopped by unexpectedly and of course, unannounced. Yes, you heard me right, just appeared out of nowhere... both of them. Now, if you recall, one of them swore NEVER to come to this house again. Awh shucks.
They brought mom a lovely poinsettia. It being evening mom was in full blown sundowners which is very hard to witness. I almost feel empathy towards them... almost. They get to go home so my almost is a small almost at the very least.. or best, depends on my mood. Oh, the one brother whom swore never to come here again, ... well, we did not speak, at all. That is highly unusual for me as I am a people pleaser and normally would have went out of my way to make him happy and comfortable. Not this day.
Oldest brother mentioned to mom they were both stopping by again tomorrow to spend Thanksgiving Day with her ( I wasn't mentioned) (which is fine) ... I told oldest bro I wasn't cooking a Turkey, he said neither were any of them, surprise surprise since it's a known fact his wife doesn't cook and they normally end up here scarfing up food.... I did tell them I was making eggplant lasagna though... he said he'd bring pumpkin pie, ice cream and whip cream. Oh oh, I added the whip cream, he included it in his list. WOW!
hope, I am incredibly Thankful for your mama's bounce back... not only for her, but for you! Yes, let her sleep... she's been through a lot trying to battle that infection.
I agree. No frenzy allowed! Ha! We should all show up on Cap's doorstep and eat brats until we can't move! That, would be an awesome day :)
But in the meantime, my parents have grown apart from these kids. I know there's parables about the prodigal child. But really. These days who has prodigal children? They have selfish children who could care less about visiting their own parents -- assuming the parents weren't abusive, I believe there is no reason to not visit parents at least once a year, and call once a week! Honestly! OK I'm done whining.
Well, now. My mother lives with me and my ex-SO (it's tricky but we're coping), and he has done more for her and eaten with her and kept her company a hundred times more than either of her sons for more than five years. He's kind to her and she likes him. My SIL - ex-husband's sister - has come to visit and called and invited my mother to family events more than both of my brothers put together; and all of my ex-husband's family pay my mother more attention than most of her own do. But there's never any allowance for how much my mother might, herself, *like* particular relatives, it's always got to be done according to family order.
And I think that's hooey.
To be fair, I don't think it's hypocrisy, I think it's ignorance. My sister doesn't know what goes on in my mother's social life so perhaps she just doesn't know any better.
You don't think our brothers are blaming us for their no-shows, do you? Are we sitting there beaming disapproval at them and putting them off? Well. They're big boys. They can just handle it.
searching the world over to find a 5 lb bag of whole wheat flour cheap . its that time again and i dont wanna pay 5 . 50 for a bag of flour . oughtta buy some wheat from the feed mill and smash it with a brick hammer .
Mom, seriously, has not stopped pacing since yesterday. Yes, she was up ALL night long pacing... her legs are like giant tree stumps. She cannot stop though. This is so worrisome. None of her meds are slowing this down either.
Mom, however, pulled her usual stunt of not wanting to go to the bathroom when told to, putting the pouty 2-year-old face/voice, and then going after both sis and I told her she needed to. She pulled it again with me tonight, refused to use the bathroom, saying she wanted to lay down but would be back up shortly and would go to the bathroom then. I was too tired to fight with her over it - and of course, she was back up in 5 minutes, peed on the bed and floor on the way to the bathroom. Told her when she got done changing ALL of her clothing and I changed ALL of her bedding and cleaned the floor that this has to stop. She agreed...but I know we'll go through all of this again tomorrow. I'll remind her, she'll resist it, I'll insist....ugh. So tired of the endless cycle.