Category: Dementia
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#Thankful for Support
Thank you to my son for exercising more independence as I’ve been busy attending to my parents’ affairs, to my husband for everything from chipping in around the house to loving me deeply and devotedly, to my sister as we support each other in making decisions on our parents’ behalf now that they are unable…
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I've Been Really Busy
I haven’t been blogging as much recently because I’ve simply been too busy to do so. Moved my parents into Silverado Memory Care Community in San Juan Capistrano Wednesday. My parents are getting excellent care at Silverado. Already they have participated in the social hour and taken a Zumba exercise class. The caregivers are attentive.…
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I've Got This… Really, I Do
Since my mother refused post-stroke treatment, behavior I could not control, I’ve been really busy. Bordering on mildly hypomanic at times, yet surprisingly stable given all the stress I’m under, I gained a sense of control by learning what I can about those things I can control. Using skills I acquired in my careers in…
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Day from Hell
Recently my mother slammed the door on her speech therapist. She refused nursing care for herself and blocked nurses from seeing my father. Her behavior has caused both of them to be discharged as patients from home health services. No more home nursing visits, physical therapy or speech therapy. My parents reside in a board…
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I Said "No!"
My mother’s speech therapist (a great guy and excellent speech therapist) called me today so that I could participate in her speech therapy. Friday, when I first met with him and my parents, he told me to work with my mother daily. Afterwards, I freaked out, was bitchy and short-tempered with my husband and…
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Freaking Out
Once again I accidentally skipped a medication dose. Thursday evening I forgot to take my divalproex (used to treat seizures, migraines and bipolar disorder), making me less stable, more irritable, short-tempered with my husband, overwhelmed, emotionally fragile, raw and vulnerable. F*ck. So that’s a bit of background for how I felt Friday and Saturday. Am…
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Together Again
Finally, my parents are back together again since my mother had an acute front left lobe stroke in mid-November. We’ve taken my father to visit my mother in stroke rehab, but tonight they sleep together. No longer is my father in memory care in one facility and my mother in stroke rehab in another.
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Change is Anxiety Provoking
Great news. Monday I am moving my parents into shared rooms – and most importantly, a shared bed – at a board and care close to my home. To that end, I’ve been busy with electronic paperwork and facilitating the transfer of my mother from skilled nursing stroke rehab and my father from assisted living memory…
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My Parents Are Still Apart
Overwhelmed with feelings of guilt. Trying to do the best I can. The assisted living memory care where my father has been staying cannot accommodate my mother’s difficulty swallowing liquids due to her stroke. My mother is back in skilled nursing after a psychiatric stay for major depression and behavioral changes due to a UTI…
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I, Too, Have Lost My Voice
In a seemingly ironic twist of fate, not only is my mother without words, without speech due to her stroke, but now I have fallen prey to an upper respiratory infection (cold or what have you) and cannot speak – well at least doing so hurts my throat. So, I lay in bed bored wishing…