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 saw a great bumper sticker on a car at the hospital today..it said: "Ask your doctor what medical advice from a television commercial can do for you.."
Speaking of ma... she will be home by noon. It's like my child is returning from summer camp! LOL I got her a BIG bouquet of daffodils ...all her special food she likes. I sure hope she isn't worse for wear than when I sent her off...
My Mom is still in the hospital on antibiotics. I wonder if the antibiotics are making her sleepy too, or if something else is going on. It is hard to catch the doctor there as they make their rounds at different times. I am planning on heading there soon and see what I can find out. No matter where your parent is, it is stressful but just in different ways.
Susan, the rock from the truck may have torn a wheel boot. That is a rubbery covering that helps protect the wheel under the car. This happened to me when a chunk of concrete flew up from the highway a few years ago. They replaced the wheel boot at the service place at my car dealer. Hope all will go ok. We also have so many pot holes in the roads here this time of year and this year seems especially bad too.
From what you wrote, I don't think the truth will set well with you mother....Is she participating with activities in the assisted living home? Perhaps something to distract her throughout the day might help? As hard as it is it would be great if you could get your mom more interested in HER life vs YOURS. Distracting and keeping her busy are now your best friend.
Good luck and keep posting!
Sorry that your mother is in such sad shape, but it's good that she's in assisted living. Her dementia and denial are both going to make it basically impossible to reason with.
I'm not sure confrontation with the truth will work because she will likely quickly forget it and also just outright deny it.
Would it be possible to distract her in the conversation? You may end up using the broken record approach of saying the same explanation again until the next time the question comes up. I had to do that with my mother often.. It gets old, but it's better than getting into all all out fight over it.
I've not slept well in two nights and my mind is tired. So, I hope others will have some better ideas.
Welcome to a wonderful place to find support and to whine!
Katie, my mother has also been very lethargic and sleepy. Now, what I'm getting at is your mother is in the hospital right? - Mine is at the hospice house. I've seen her 4 times since she's been there, my carer has went almost everyday. Each visit she was barely able to keep her eyes open. Why? Mine wasn't quite like that when she left, was yours? I called and asked if they were giving her the Haldol or Ativan, said no, however at 11:00 a.m. today she'd not had her morning meds.
I somehow feel they're going to be more frail when they get home. Personally, I plan on giving her a thorough body inspection since I know she's not left that bed since she arrived.
I'm not sure what's worse, the actual taking care of an AD loved one or worrying about their care when out of the home.
dee, don't tell me you're getting the flu on top of everything else? Gads woman!
Susan, I admire your tenacity.
I'm off to home depot to get some fence replacement. The big labs next door have almost pushed through my side (my fence) so I have to find a way to make it dog proof. Too much scuffling going on by the corner of the fence for me. Sydney wouldn't bother with them if they didn't stand there barking at her!! Grrr!!
Again, I may whine about it but I sure will be happy when mom gets home.
Anyway if this is the case she has probably been given a lot of antibiotics and that kills the apetite and also make swallowing more painful and difficult. Nutitional drinks like Ensure can help a lot.
Thanks, Jeanette - I know...I'm doing too much right now, but finances dictate the need. If there are things I want to do to the house, trips I want to make to see my son, things I need to do for mom (like the tub), then the money has to come from somewhere.
I'm venturing into my storage unit today to pull things out to decorate the house with a combination of both mine and Mom's. Time to make this more like home for me and less like a temporary living situation. I'm tired of my stuff all being in storage - I can't bring the things I really want to bring, because they're too big, but I can bring a few decorative items.
Jeanette, I know what you mean about it being strange that Mom is not in the house where she usually is. After Mom went to the hospital I kept going into her room feeling strange like there should be something I need to be doing. I miss her.
I ended up cleaning her room top to bottom, but I still go in there and just stare at things a couple times a day...wonder what will happen and how things are going to go from here. I am trying to do some things like rest, take care of car tune ups, house repairs and cleaning etc. to feel useful and keep the worrying at bay.
I tend to write things down, prioritize as needed and check stuff off as I go, BUT, it's very hard to do when you are caring for an elder because your needs always get's superseded by their needs. Just a friendly warning :))
Hope, did you send your rain up here? Thanks! haha, actually it hasn't bothered me at all, gave me an excuse to stay home and do nothing. I am still trying to shampoo the carpet before bedtime, got as far as a thorough vacuum and took a break LOL! a very long break.
Katie, how are you doing?... I know things seem like they're hitting you all at once.
Dee... ugh, 3 hours for an eye appointment? Poor you! :p
Ok, I have a confession. I miss my mother. I have this terrible feeling of guilt leaving her there by herself. She's in an awesome place but it's not home. I have visited her several times.... hmmm, next week I will be whining of how tired I am again so I'd better rest up and stop worrying.
Police know someone is lying when they change their story. Maybe I should put a bright light on my Mom and say, "Now tell us what REALLY happened with your wedding ring."
Now, there is one story she tells that keeps changing. It makes me wonder what REALLY happened to her wedding ring. What is she hiding that the story keeps changing. I suspect she dropped it down the sink or something, but never owned up to it. So she tells the story of how a dishonest coworker stole it -- sometimes from the sink, sometimes from her purse. There's mischief afoot, I tell you. :)
https://www.agingcare.com/local/Area-Agency-on-Aging
And, if I call my husband, "Honey" or "lovebug", my father answers everytime.
He is clean, can heat his coffee, bathe. So I guess I have it pretty good.
Whew. That's my whine of the day. LOL. I hope to God, that my family will be patient with me when I get there. . We all will.