An interesting Month.....

one of decline for Mom.

This is the evening of 28 June, about 10:20 PM, I woke Mom up to get her to the toilet before a long sleep and guess what, piddled all over herself, undies, nightie, sheet; so get her cleaned up and redressed for bed, then put the stuff in the washer again, and realize this is the third time in four nights she's wet things, and tonight was perhaps the worst, since she was so 'out of mind' that going to toilet was a real problem. This week I've found her walking the house over and over again, usually going to flush the toilet, but today I found her just sitting on the toilet, clothes on and all, and she thought she was in church.

Then again, its June/July, and its about time for another three month step down to happen, I think it may have! If I were to bet on Mom the way she is tonight, she won't see Christmas.

And I'm tired!

'Help me'

and no, this is not the'Help Me' that is followed with 'I Think I'm Falling In Love In You'

I've heard of people in facilities who will sit in their chairs and either moan or say quietly or loudly 'Help Me, Help Me' over and over again, late stage dementia patients who don't know what is happening around them or inside of them.

Mom used to ask 'What are we doing today?' or 'Are we going shopping?', things and questions that tome seemed that Mom registered a sense of time and place, like if its afternoon, time to go to the store.

Needless to say, since Mom's sense of time and place has seemed to leave her, the contextual questions, like 'what are we having for dinner?' don't exist anymore, she can't put the questions together in a 'logical' way.

So now I'm starting to hear the 'Help Me's...somewhere in Mom's brain the search for order, or trying to make some sense of the 'world around her' is there, but when the contextual connections are gone and the ability to make new ones is also far away, all I think they know to say is 'Help Me'.

I started writing this at 7:39 AM, its now 7:52. In this time Mom has been up and down from bed 14 times, 'Help me, what are we going to do' all the while walking slowly down the hallway...'Mom please go back to bed we have lots of time until we have to leave', one minute later.....same thing.

At least she's able to move by herself!

Poop and Wake Up Stories!

6AM, I'm sound asleep, awakened by Mom with poop covered legs, she went this morning, pretty loose, no wiping, she just pulled up her panties.....ick! Get her in the shower, cleaned up, she has no idea of what she did nor didn't do, from 6:25 on she's been babbling about her hometown, has no idea where she is (40th Anniversary day today), there's people in her head telling her things, she wants to drive the car back to home, she's telling me that this is her school vacation, there's ladies coming to get her to go to church. This is as mixed up as I've ever seen her.