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 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.
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.
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!!
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.
Michele
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!!!)
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
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
Good job on the grocery shopping, Cap!
Butterfly...hang in there.....I wish I could offer more than that. It's all some of us can do sometimes.
Looking over things that have happened with mom in the past week or so, and it's very clear that the marked decline continues. (Of course, I knew this was going to happen, but some weeks it's just SO darn bad...)
In the past week, she's fallen asleep in the shower 3x in one shower period and I had to wake her up. Now THAT'S odd - she hates showering, but always says she feels better when it's done - it's just getting her IN the shower that we struggle with. (I want her to, she doesn't want to, etc.) She's never fallen asleep in there before. She's had a small sore just inside one of her nostrils and won't stop picking at it. She picks at it until it bleeds. I've kept after her about that and been putting vaseline on it to help it heal up and stay soft so it doesn't crust over and irritate her to the point that she picks at it - but she still does it and then gets insulted if I ask her to stop picking at it. Yesterday I mentioned that Thanksgiving was this week, and she said yes, she knew it was. Today, she asked if Thanksgiving was this week or next...and then asked if we could make her favorite cottage-cheese & fruit salad - something she's made for every holiday and family gathering for as long as I can remember. I told her I could make it, and she said she wanted to make it herself - then said she knew we would have to get mandarin oranges, but then went blank and asked me what else goes in it. That one really floored me.
(sigh)
38 bucks at the savalot . still pretty d*mn good for that much sustenance .
i did skin the sav a lot yesterday . got a 10 lb ham , ten lbs of chicken quarters , bag of onion , large bag of pinto beans , bag of sugar , bag of flour , brown sugar , 3 cans of red beans , 5 lb bag of frozen french fries , all for 28 bucks . bet i eat well for 2 months with all that .