Month: March 2019

7:15: PM – Things have been going so well lately that I almost forgot that Mom had been having problems. I woke up a little bit ago and Mom came down talking to the couch while I was in the kitchen. I heard her say something about “I know you’re awake.” She then walked out to the kitchen and noticed that I was outside and mentioned how she had been hiding upstairs and that she didn’t know how to cook. I let her know that I’m not asking her to cook… she hasn’t cooked for me for years. Then she wanted to know if she was my sister! I reminded her that I was her son. She brought that up again after mentioning that Jeremy, Chris and Troy were her sons also. She mentioned that the “critters” were small mouse-like animals that she sat upstairs and watched.

Now she’s sitting on the steps trying to have a conversation, so there’s more weird stuff to come, like she’s my sister (again). She’s brought up the nursing home several times: “I don’t blame you if you put me in a nursing home.” I’ve let her know that it’s coming soon enough at the rate she’s going. She brought up critters again and getting frustrated, I loudly asked “What critters?” And she answered that they were rats. This is getting to be too much to try to keep up with, so I’ll just end this post with, it’s bad tonight from out of nowhere.

7:30 AM – Mom came downstairs and asked me, “Are you getting rid of some of my stuff?” I replied, “No. Why?” She said, “Because there was a garage sale upstairs.” I swear to you, the laughter was involuntary! She realized that she must have been dreaming, then went to the bathroom and back upstairs. Yeah, there’s NO WAY I would have a bunch of strangers going through the house to go upstairs to buy her stuff. I don’t know how it will work with Medicaid when Mom moves into a nursing home. There might not be anything left of hers to sell or give away to my brothers, myself or Goodwill.

7:45 AM – I got home from work and discovered that Mom had left the bathroom sink faucet on. Who knows how many hours the water was running! I can’t wait to see the water bill for this month… I ended up making a reminder and hanging it above the sink for her to turn off the water when she is done with it. This has happened a few other times, but when I was home and able to discover it pretty quickly.

4:30 AM – I’ve been hearing Mom moving around upstairs occasionally throughout the night, and she just came down carrying a robe and said: “She’s not saying anything.” When I asked who, she stated: “The one that I gave this to.” My reply: “Maybe she’s not saying anything because there’s no one else up there.” So, once again, lack of sleep and she’s seeing people that aren’t there. I will try to go up and get her to go to bed.

4:00 AM – Crap! I spoke too soon. From about 2:00 to 2:30 AM, I heard Mom moving around upstairs. She finally came down at 2:30 and asked me if she could stay here with me tonight. It seems she forgot that she lives here again. I told her to go back to bed, so she went to the bathroom and back upstairs. I would occasionally hear some movement up there, so I know she did not go back to bed. She then came back down at 4:00 this morning and asked where she was. She recognized me and said it looks like my living room. I told her again to go back to bed and she said that she needed a glass of water. She did that, went to the bathroom, got another glass of water and went back up. We’ll see what happens next I guess!

10:30 AM – I’m not sure what’s changed, perhaps Mom is sleeping better, but I’ve not noticed anything really unusual since my last post. She’s had the usual forgetfulness and 1 mention of “critters,” but other than that, she’s been pretty normal. She even took a shower last week without me suggesting it! Hopefully things continue to remain calm as the paranoia and hallucinations were really taxing to both of us.