Busy Day

Yesterday, we had the weekly visit from Maria. Mom got all cleaned up and in fresh duds. She had been wearing the old black "Ireland" tee shirt, panties, socks and the purple bathrobe for an entire week now, so it was nice to see her in clothes again. Maria did her usual wonderful job working with Mom. Maria told me that when Mom yells, to tell her quietly not to yell. She is always full of wonderful practical pieces of information and suggestions, such as offering Mom a dollop of peanut butter on a cracker, or tuna on a very small piece of bread.. anything to get a little bit of protein in her.

Dad had left to go drop off his car at the auto body shop, and Maria stayed on a bit longer than she needed to, but that's how helpful she is. After Mom was dressed and pampered, we managed to get her to sit on the other couch for awhile, in a somewhat upright position.. but nothing lasted for long. She was terribly disorientated all day... expressing a lot of confusion about where she was, where she was going, how we got here.. who we are.. At one point, Maria told me she thought Mom was heading into the final stage, stage seven. I told her I agreed.

After Maria left, one of the therapists called for an initial meeting with us. Though I wasn't sure if Dad was going to be back yet, I agreed for a one o'clock appointment. Luckily, Dad did arrive home a few minutes before one, and not a moment too soon, because Mom was beginning to get really agitated at that point. She made a big deal out of Dad coming home. He has been tied up lately, not to mention exhausted.

The new occupational therapist arrived a little after one, Gwen, and she was wonderful, patient and calm. At this point, Mom was really agitated. Up and down and babbling lot's of things. It's heartbreaking to see how confused she has become. We tried having a four-way meeting in the living room, but eventually, Gwen suggested she and Dad go somewhere else. They went into the bedroom and talked while I kept Mom occupied. She just could not sit still, yet all she really wanted to do was sleep, to get away from the confusion.

After Gwen left around two-thirty, I ran home for a half an hour. When I got back, Mom and Dad were sitting quietly at the dining room table eating a bran muffin. Maria had brought over four bran muffins and a whole lemon meringue pie (of which we managed to get a few bites into Mom while Maria was there.) By this time, Dad really need to rest a bit himself, so again, I tried to keep Mom occupied so Dad could have a few moments to himself.

Then, a little after three, our nurse showed up. Mom seemed happy to see her, despite her exhaustion. She asked some more questions, and I pointed out the rash and the sore on Mom's right ankle bone that Maria had discovered. Nurse M. put a salve and a bandage on the ankle bone, and suggested some cortisone cream for the rash. Dad was able to bring up that Mom's sleep patterns are shifting and keeping him awake. Nurse M. suggested we try and keep her more active throughout the day, and to not be shy from giving Mom two of the Ativan (Lorazepam) sedative's instead of just one.

Nurse M. left and plans to come again on Friday. Friday we will also meet the physical therapist for the first time. Today, Thursday, nobody is coming, so I plan on getting over there as soon as I can to keep Mom occupied as much as I can. She did spend a lot of time sleeping on the couch when I stayed with her alone on Tuesday, so that could explain some of the irregular sleep patterns.

After Nurse M. left, around four-thirty, I stayed with Mom a little longer so that Dad could just sit quietly for a moment. She is walking better now, so we walked a bit, sang our "Left left" march, and I brought her into the kitchen to help put away the dishes from the dry rack. I gave her a napkin and told her to wipe up around the counters. She did all this without any complaint. We looked out the front door at the snow and ice melting. We walked around the first floor. Finally, we waked by their bed and she asked me to let her lie down there. I decided this wouldn't be so bad, so up she went, and when I tucked her in under the blanket she said to me, "You don't know how grateful I am for this."

Indeed, for us, too. She stayed quiet for a while, Dad came to from his little snooze in the chair, and I headed home. I told him to call if he needed me, but I never heard from him. Hopefully, they both got a decent night's rest.