Despite our excitement over the prospect of professional help coming to the house with the Hospice agency, as well as Mom bouncing back a little bit from the over-medication incident, let's face it - she's deep into this disease and it's only getting worse.
As Dad reported in his comment on my post from yesterday, Mom rose early today and went out to the living room for juice and pills, but refused food, except for one or two bites of an egg. Soon after that, she wanted to go back to bed, and that's where she still was when I arrived a little after eleven in the morning. She called out, "Who is that?" when I entered the house, and once I took off my boots and coat and hat and entered the bedroom, she babbled quite a bit. She mentioned something about feeling like she needed to get back home, and finally I just went along with it, asking, "Well, where are you then?" And she replied that she was somewhere outside of France.
After a while, we got her up to the chair, but it wasn't long before she wanted to be on the couch. She would not eat, but she did drink Ensure and water. There were many trips to the bathroom for peeing through out the time I was there, and a little bit of walking around. She did want to have the beautiful bouquet of flowers my sister brought up moved to the dinning room table. She seemed intent on cleaning off the marble table that is next to her regular chair today. Usually it's cluttered with tissues and napkins, toothpicks and water glasses.
She was very cranky and verbally combative today. She complained a lot about her right arm. She continued to say things that made no sense, only to her. We try our best to understand what her true meanings are. It's difficult.
Dad was depressed today. The snow was falling all morning into the afternoon, switching over to a light freezing rain for the last hour or two. We couldn't go anywhere. He's worried about getting enough sleep tonight (and he didn't sleep very well last night), because he's got the appointment with the elder care lawyer tomorrow in the city an hour away. I'm a little worried about being alone with her for the three or four hours he will be away. It's possible we could have someone from the agency come up to assist me with her tomorrow, but it's not confirmed yet. I can probably handle it alone, but you never know where the disease may make her turn next.
And she's not eating. We weighed her during one of the bathroom breaks, and the scale stuck at one hundred pounds. Perhaps the coming week will feel more hopeful, but all in all, this disease blows, and it hurts like hell to see such a beautiful, intelligent woman become so helpless and pathetic.
2 comments:
It's amazing how things can change. As I said in my email this evening, she was much better behaved this evening! I pan fried the six Digby scallops I had purchased, I think, on Saturday and combined them with the left over mashed potatoes and part of a Greek salad. I gave her smaller portions than mine, of course, but she ate most of the items. She was very cooperative in moving to the dining room table from her comfortable position on the couch across from the one by the window. She even asked for a glass of wine! First time since before the overdose. After the meal she managed to stay up, amidst numerous times dropping off to sleep in her chair, to watch the Antiques Road Show with me. But half way through I could see she was not staying awake so I suggested bed to her and she agreed. Now my only hope is that she'll stay asleep and be calm.
That is a nice upswing to hear about!
Hope you're getting good sleep.
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