Puzzling

Yesterday, Mom had her bath and was game for the ladies luncheon. I offered to go, but we all decided that I could stay home. I jumped on the opportunity of having their house empty and cleaned for four hours.

They got back around three, and I checked in with them around four. Mom was alert, but calm. It was quite noticeable to me. She was able to respond to my questions about her experiences at lunch well, and though she yawned a bit, she seemed bright eyed and mellow. I was hopeful, and left them alone after about an hour.

This afternoon, just after lunch, I stopped in to pick up recyclables to bring to the transfer station. When I walked in, Mom was in the chair, partially slumped over. Dad came up and said she had been like that all morning. When I looked at her, it was remarkable how different her face appeared from yesterday. Her eyes seemed dull and her affect was flat. She told me she slept poorly, that she had vivid dream activity all night and also that her body felt "achy." "Like a fever achy?" I asked. "No." She replied. Hmm.

I ran out to drop off the trash, then went back over around one-thirty in the afternoon. She was in her chair, slumped and sleepy. The television had been on all morning. Dad said she ate very little of her soup for lunch, but ate up her egg and a whole bottle of Ensure for breakfast. Before Dad went downstairs to take a nap, he and I discussed whether or not he should call the doctor. When he came back up around three in the afternoon, it was coming up to the time she was supposed to ingest the new pill, but we opted out. She just seemed way too sleepy and dull. Though, again, when I looked her the eye, she did smile and "see" me... I don't know.

I got her up for a bathroom break and some short walking. We went downstairs when the phone rang and Dad was talking.....she wanted to know who it was. When he hung up, he told us that it was the woman who runs our local Alzheimer's support group, informing him of the care givers training sessions starting up in early March. Six weeks, two hours, four-thirty to six-thirty, once a week. Not a very convenient time.. We are still considering it. If we both go, we'd have to find somebody to sit with Mom for three or more hours once a week at night.  Gulp.

When I left at four, she admitted she was super tired. Yet, she did speak quite coherently when questioned, and she did not act strange.. except for her extreme tiredness. Puzzling.

Is it the new anti-psychotic drug? Or is it that she's just burnt from three days in a row of going out? Or is it that she's tired from a bad night's sleep? Or is it just the Alzheimer's Disease pushing down on her?

We'll see how she is tomorrow, then take it from there. Probably not good to take her off the prescribed drug, but it just didn't seem necessary today. If need be, Dad will get in touch with Dr. N.'s assistant tomorrow. He's supposed to check in with her about Mom's reactions to the new drug on Tuesday anyway.