Month: February 2020

3:15 AM – I had an idea about Mom’s TV watching and decided to look up recommended TV channels that might be suitable for Alzheimer’s patients. There were 2 of them that I found: TV Land and Turner Classic Movies. I settled on TV Land to give that a try since they are shorter programs and they have several older shows that she might enjoy. I’m wondering if the Travel Channel programming might have been causing problems with the Ghost Hunter style shows that they have on there sometimes. Hopefully she doesn’t give me any problems with the change and the shows help with her mood!

10:55 AM – It’s probably too soon to know for sure if the TV idea is working, but she’s been wearing the headphones around the house, hasn’t said anything about it being on a different channel and most notably, hasn’t been talking to her invisible people (to my knowledge.) She has been up and down the stairs several times, which is why I’m awake right now, but is currently upstairs doing a find the word puzzle, silently. The channel guide shows that Bonanza is on right now, but it was The Andy Griffith Show earlier. I’m going to try to go back to sleep now. Hopefully things continue to stay quiet.

3:15 PM – It’s really annoying when she moves something, then claims she didn’t do it. I have a coffee bean can that has a vacuum plug and sealed cap on it I keep in a lower cabinet. I found it in the refrigerator with the plug removed. Mom happened to be standing there and I casually commented that this can stays in the cabinet. She immediately got bent out of shape and claimed that she didn’t do it. I replied, “I’m just saying, this goes in a cabinet, not in the fridge.” I have to say, at least she left me alone for the most part today. No stomping, no loud talking. She did wake me up a few times going up and down the stairs. I’ve gotten to be such a light sleeper that just the creaking of the stairs will wake me. In a way, that’s probably a good thing. She’s in the kitchen, rocking in her chair and drinking a cup of coffee quietly.

4:00 PM – Mom used to like watching M*A*S*H, but was sitting in the kitchen. I let her know that it was coming on and she hurried upstairs to watch it. She’s up there quietly watching it now. Out of the blue, she said, “If you think I’ve stolen something like that, then you need to get out of here. This old house wouldn’t handle a piano.”

5:35 PM – The conversation has shifted to reminding someone that they’ve been dead for a while now and that I have a hot red Camaro and she has an Echo. She also thinks that I’ve already left for work (oddly enough, she came downstairs right after talking about me leaving for work and didn’t say a word to me or act like she was surprised I was still here.) I haven’t yet, but it’s almost time for me to get ready, so this is probably going to be the last update for the night unless I see something while I’m at work worth posting about. So, good night!

4:20 AM – I got up to go to the bathroom and heard a loud knock upstairs. Checked the camera and Mom is looking around for Victoria and asking how she got here. She’s looking everywhere for her, including in the chair cushions. She must have realized no one was there, turns off the lights and closes her bedroom door. The light in her bedroom remains on, so she may not be done yet. She comes downstairs to use the bathroom and then goes by the back door several times mentioning that she can’t lift that. Finally, she goes back upstairs, turns off her light and sits on her bed. Clips below.

8:15 AM – She’s up and eating a bowl of cereal in the kitchen, but not too chatty at the moment. I’m going to try to get a few more minutes of sleep, if she will let me.

9:00 AM – Heard a banging upstairs. I don’t know what it was all about, but I guess that it means I’m done sleeping. After a couple of trips up and down the stairs, she went into her bedroom and closed the door. She’s been pretty chatty up there, but I can’t hear much, so not recording.

10:15 AM – Mom seems to have an attitude today. She’s been up and down the stairs a couple of times. Looked at me on one of her trips and said, “I’m supposed to be a life member of the American Legion.” I told her OK. The other times she walked by, she stuck her nose in the air and wouldn’t look at me. Hard to say what my supposed offense is this time.

10:30 AM – She’s been up and down the stairs about 4 more times and when she got upstairs last time, she opened the door and said, “This is my house. Don’t you dare say it’s not.” So, that’s apparently my offense for today.

10:40 AM – She got back downstairs and said something like “Father, it’s time to take care of that.” Shortly after, she went back upstairs where she seems to be examining her bedroom door to see where it hits the dresser, then she bangs her knees on the floor! Of course, another trip downstairs. She walked into the kitchen and said something I couldn’t hear and then goes back upstairs. My legs are already getting tired! Here’s the video where she bangs her knees on the floor:

10:51 AM – Back downstairs again. This time she’s making a bowl of cereal again. She’s been going up and down the stairs so much that’s it’s been a challenge to stop the recordings, transfer the recording to the computer and then switch cameras. Then the kitchen cam keeps dropping its connection for some reason.

12:05 PM – After Mom finished her cereal she went upstairs and closed her bedroom door. I was messing around with the new DVR Security system, so I wasn’t watching her. Turns out the wireless signal interferes with the reolink cameras I using inside, so I won’t be able to use the new cameras for now. Anyway, I went upstairs to hang up her headphones so I could see if she was in her room talking and she came out of her room. She asked me if I felt the vibration in the floor. Someone was apparently accusing her of causing the vibration. I didn’t feel anything. She then went back in her room and laid down to take a nap. All is quiet now.

12:30 PM – That didn’t last long. She came downstairs on high with a pissed off look on her face and asked me, “Did Jerry Feester come here?” I shook my head no and said no one has been here. Then she started banging on a counter top and came out and asked me why I sent Jerry Feester away. I again told her nobody has been here. (You can hear the exchange on the footage I’ll upload. You can also hear her banging.)

1:30 PM – After this video, she came downstairs and started talking about a pink house that she used to own on Goose Lake (I don’t know anything about it) and other properties that don’t seem to make sense. She didn’t remember some of the places that we used to live. I don’t know if her brain is just scrambling places together or what. I told her about the only places I know of that she bought; a trailer at Turtle Bay here in town, a house on Boner Lake and then this house. She thought the Turtle Bay house was Grandpa Geiger’s trailer. She was just all over the place with her descriptions. She kept going on about it, then went to the bathroom and came out and ask if I got it all figured out yet. I told her I gave up and lost interest. She started to go on about it and I repeated that I lost interest. It just wasn’t making sense and was hurting my head.. lol A short time later, I went out to the kitchen to make some coffee and there were raisin bran crumbs on the floor. I went to get the broom and discovered a key to her Toyota sitting on the table by the back door! Fortunately, the battery is dead so she wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere, but those are now in the safe.

4:00 PM – I got a new RO water storage tank in today because the bladder had burst on the old one. Mom sat on her chair watching me flush it out and replace it, then replaced the filters. This is what she’s talking about in the beginning of the next video.

5:00 PM – Her new thing today is that a bunch of things here belonged to Jerry Feester. She brought down a Notre Dame throw and claimed it was Jerry’s and asked me if I wanted it since he’s dead now. I’m pretty sure it was a guy she dated that was living with her here for a while that was a big ND fan (Troy would remember him.) Then she asked me if I had a place for the little black lamp that is upstairs, also claiming that it was Jerry’s. I told her that yeah, it’s my lamp that I used to keep on my waterbed headboard for reading (it had a 25w bulb in it.) I told her I would use it again when I set my bed up again. I really don’t know why Jerry’s stuff would be here if they were just friends, never dated and only tended bar together as she mentions in previous videos. Her brain seems to be doing some mental gymnastics or something.

8:40 AM – She came downstairs to use the bathroom and then went up and sat on her bed. The topic so far seems to be being married to Warren Murphy for 5 years and him dying of a heart attack and thanks to him she is a lifetime member of the Legion. Something chasing her. Her sister Faye. Nobody lets her drive and her Echo is worth more than she bought it for (nope, only about $1,100.) “I’m not going to talk to you. You don’t belong here.” “Nobody’s supposed to say the F word here. I’m not going to put up with it. Neither is Jesus.” So, pretty much all over the place this morning.

12:15 PM – I’ve got to get ready and head to Warsaw. Gotta stop at the Auditor’s office to get homestead credit then to insurance company for homeowner’s insurance. I’ll check in on Mom when I can.

3:15 PM – Everything is taken care of with the house except for paying it off! While on my way home, I checked the cameras and Mom was sitting downstairs. She wasn’t saying anything for the minute I was listening, but when I got home, she was still sitting there. I asked her how she was feeling today and she told me that she had a headache, so I gave her 2 Tylenol. While she was still sitting down here, I had some stuff to put away upstairs and snapped a picture of her bedroom:

3:30 PM – She seems pretty emotional today since the voices won’t shut up. I’m not intervening since things seem to go south when I do these days. I get the “I don’t want to argue” stuff and when I try to press the issue, she just seems to get pissed at me. Best I can do is make sure she eats something and make sure she’s taking her medications. Anyway, she’s not as talkative right now. She says Shut UP at one point and says something about pythons and not being able to see them right now. If anything ramps up, I’ll be sure to post some video of it. As of right now, it’s pretty much the same thing that’s in the earlier videos for today.

5:45 PM – She came down without any fuss and I helped her get her stuff together. I played nice and pointed out the window at the snow and said Yuk. She smiled about that. Any time I’d walk out of the kitchen, she’s start talking. She called me out at one point and when I didn’t go right away, she came out and said, “Someone told me I’m not supposed to be here.” I just reminded her that we are the only ones here and she said, “I know” and shrugged.

6:30 PM – Mom came out here after putting her stuff away from her supper and said, “I think we have a problem in the basement. Jerry Feester, and officer, might have been shot.” I told her no one has been shot, I would have heard it. She seemed to be OK with that and went upstairs where she flipped through a magazine. She came back downstairs a few minutes later and said, “Shannon, somebody says there’s a big python outside.” I told her that it’s too cold outside for pythons. She said that she knew, but that’s what somebody said. I told her that they are lying to her then, because pythons just can’t live in this kind of cold.

8:00 PM – Mom came down to tell me that Jerry Feester says there’s a great big python in the neighbors yard. She said that she can’t help him and asked him why he didn’t have a list of other policemen. I commented that he’s not a very smart policeman then is he? She agreed. I looked at the temperature outside (34 degrees) and told her that if there’s a python out there, it’s dead. They can’t survive that cold of a temp. She seemed satisfied with that answer and went back upstairs. She was quiet for about 4 minutes and back to basically calling Jerry an idiot because he didn’t know how to get help.

8:30 PM – It’s been the repetitive python dilemma up until just a minute ago when following a comment about me saying it’s too cold for pythons, she suddenly switched to the Veronica/Victoria girl that she caught going through people’s purses. She actually says Victoria’s name, but I think they are the same person. The girl also tells Mom that she is her daughter. It suddenly shifts to someone upstairs saying “Shut the F up.” She says, “No one is supposed to talk that way in this house.” Well #@*!. I better watch it, I might get arrested for saying the F-word! OK, had to throw in a little humor tonight before cutting it off and taking a nap so I can stay up most of the night and sleep tomorrow for work.

9:30 AM – Early start today, although she did go to bed earlier than usual last night. She asked me if she was allowed to have a cup of coffee, but had already made a cup. When I nodded, she went back out to the kitchen and poured creamer in it. Cameras are getting a lot of interference today already.

1:15 PM – Mom has been surprisingly quiet today. After the video above, she keep going on and on about me being her first born son for a while, then it moved on to someone killing Jerry Feester and from there it got quiet for 8-10 minutes at a time and it’d be interrupted by her saying “Jerry Feester.” and quiet down again. At one point, I went upstairs to see what she was watching on TV to keep her quiet and it was something about WWII mobile floating bridges or something. I had recorded it, but for some reason the recording didn’t save. Anyway, even after I left she stayed quiet. I’ll update if anything changes.

3:50 PM – I went upstairs to hang up the headphones so I could see if Mom was doing any talking in her bedroom or if I was just hearing the TV. I got up there and it smells like she dumped or sprayed a bunch of perfume up there. Whew! I got back downstairs and listened in again and it turns out she is up there talking, but I can’t hear anything she’s saying.

7:45 PM – Overall, it’s been a pretty tame day. I would likely have been able to get enough sleep for work with minimal disturbance from her going up and down the stairs. No stomping or loud conversations today. I don’t know what changed from yesterday, but I sure hope it calm keeps up! Since it’s calm, I’ll stop recording eat some supper and try to get some sleep. It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow with a lot of running around Warsaw. If anything happens tonight, I’ll keep ya posted. Good night!

3:30 AM – Mom got up to use the bathroom at about 3 and has been up and down the stairs a couple of times talking to unknown people. Of course, since she woke me up with her talking, I caught some video in the security cameras. Oh, speaking of which, the cameras that are coming today don’t record audio apparently. I wish I had seen that before ordering them, but I guess I can use those outside and move the better reolink cameras inside. Anway, in one of the videos, Victoria’s name is mentioned again as someone that took the house because they lost theirs gambling? I think that’s where she went with that.

The videos from the security cameras seem to be an easier way to see what’s going on, so I’m going to try to do that as much as I can instead of typing stuff out. If I record them on my phone, the file sizes are smaller and already in an mp4 format, so I don’t have to do anything except for copy them to the computer and upload them here. I should also mention that the captions that I’m writing are for the video directly above them. WordPress lays it out weird.

12:20 PM – She just stomped across the floor upstairs and started shouting, it sounded like, “Someone just called me a fucking bitch! This is my house and you’re going to be out!” … and of course, the camera was giving me connection problems. so I couldn’t connect and record anything. She came downstairs then, giving me a dirty look. She went upstairs and puttered around for a while, going on about the same thing.

12:50 PM – She came back downstairs and pointed at me and said, “You’re my first born son.” Then walked into the kitchen. I’m now doing some recording of her in the kitchen where the topic is Jerry Feester being killed after being married to him for 5 years. Unfortunately, I’m getting camera drops from here as well, even though it’s only about 15 feet away from the router. She came through to go back upstairs and I asked her who was shot. She looked at me confused and said, “The father of my boys.” Wow.. what a drastic change when she was JUST talking about Jerry Feester being shot about 30 seconds before walking through here. Right before the camera dropped off, you can hear me asking about that in the next clip.

1:50 PM – The story just changed. She said, “Ervin D Geiger.. was my husband for 5 years. When he died I came back here.” She didn’t say he was shot, just that he died.

3:15 PM – I got a call from Shawna from Miller’s Merry Manor and she suggested that if we can make it through the weekend, then touch base with her Dr. If not, take her up to the ER so that they can do an evaluation and then to get back with her to let her know what’s going on. Syracuse doesn’t have a locked unit, but Warsaw does, but she doesn’t know if they would have a bed available. We may end up having to go with a sub-par nursing home if nothing else. What a huge relief to have someone to guide me through this! On a side note, while I was on the phone with Shawna, I heard Mom bang on the arms of her chair again. This is what usually wakes me up. It sounds like she’s banging on the floor directly.

5:15 PM – I realize I posted a lot of videos, but seeing all of this today makes me realize that even though it seemed quiet (for the most part) when she was upstairs, she was most likely like this all the time. This is why my sleep has been suffering lately. By the time I get home from work and get some supper and go to sleep, it’s typically around 8:30-9:30 AM. Mom seems to get up at around 11:00 AM most days and the up and down the stairs starts, along with all the talking and here lately, stomping on the floor. I have my alarm set for 5:00 PM, but a lot of the times, I end up giving up trying to sleep and am up at 3:00 PM (yesterday it was 1:30 that I gave up and got up.) If it’s not the stomping or going up and down the stairs, she’ll sit in the kitchen and talk as loud as you hear in these videos, which also wakes me up. So anyway, I’m going to keep recording for now, but will stop posting the videos unless something major happens. * Update 5:30 PM – I take that back. I’ll post the next one because in it, I interrupted her conversation to take her pill up to her. She says thank you and after a pause after I leave, continues her conversation.

7:20 PM – Things are quiet right now. She’s in her room, door closed and it looks like the light is off. This doesn’t exactly mean she’s done for the night, but for now she’s quiet. I turned the motion sensor for the camera on so if she comes out, I’ll get an alert.

8:48 AM – Mom came down a little earlier and took a shower. Great! It’s been a long time that she’s decided to do that on her own. She went upstairs when she was done, I assume to brush her hair etc. She came back down and looked at me and asked, “Are you Junior?” Stunned, I asked, “Am I Junior?” She then got it right: “You’re Shannon.” At least she didn’t have an attitude.. that’s not gonna fly today.

1:15 PM – Mom has been banging on her chair off and on since at least 11:30. Finally, I went upstairs to find out what was going on and she turned around and looked at me and said, “You want me to kick your ass?” I told her, “Go for it!” So she went to knee me in the crotch and fortunately only grazed me, which is still not pleasant. I pushed her back into her chair to get her away from me and then I came downstairs and called Fire and Rescue to see if they would send an ambulance to transport her to Goshen Hospital. They wouldn’t do it unless it was a medical emergency and recommended that I call the Dr. So I called the office and they said there wasn’t too much they could do and about 15 minutes later, they had talked to Mom’s Dr and called me back to let me know they were sending an officer. The officer showed up and talked to me for a few, spoke to Mom, then me again and basically said that they can’t take her up there against her will, but did recommend that I call Adult Protective Services so they can come and evaluate her, although from reading their website, they don’t seem to fit into what is going on because she’s not the one in any danger, unless she’s a danger to herself. It’s either that or I can take her up to Goshen myself, if she doesn’t fight me. She told the officer that I was calling her a liar and a thief (never happened) and that I wanted to put her in a nursing home. I do, but I don’t. I guess we’ll just have to play it by ear because at this point, I don’t know what to do.

5:00 PM – I have sent an email to Miller’s Merry Manor here in town in hopes that they can help me with where to turn next and how to get the process started. After today, it’s obviously time, so I’m going to try to get the ball rolling. Everything else is coming together, now I just have to work on this.

9:00 PM – Fortunately, my boss had an extra person tonight and was able to shuffle some people around so that I could come back home. It’s a good thing too because I am so tired. I had moved a couple of cameras from outside. One of them I put in the kitchen pointed at the chair she sits in when she’s talking to her friends. The other one I put upstairs in her TV room. It also faces her bedroom so that when she starts talking, I can capture it that way. I captured one where she was talking about how she was being accused of grand theft auto and she kept bringing up Victoria’s name. Right now, I’m recording one from her upstairs where she thinks she’s paying for a bunch of properties and getting no benefit from them.

I also got a reply from the nursing home’s Admissions Director asking when a good time to call me tomorrow (Saturday) would be. So hopefully they can help me! I’ll upload a couple of videos in a bit.

9:25 PM – In the next episode, I find out that my name is not really Geiger…. apparently. lol. She seems to really be pissed off at me because I sold the pink house (using the power of attorney) and on and on and goes with the pauses getting shorter. I’ll have to post that video as well.. it’s weird. BTW, I’ve got a camera/DVR system coming tomorrow that will hopefully work better than these since they will record all the time.

8:45 AM – Well, she now claims to be able to talk to dead people, but she’s not allowed to talk about it because they don’t want me to know about them. Asking for more details just got me, “I don’t want to argue. Get control over yourself.” What the heck? I try to speak up so she can hear and now I’m losing control? This is maddening. I also got told that I can’t put her in a nursing home. Well, she’s in for a rude awakening if she keeps it up. I’m nearing my limit.

9:45 AM – She’s pushing my buttons hard today. She most likely will be going to the hospital for an evaluation and then to a nursing home today. A few minutes ago, she pounded on an upstairs door. I went up to see what was going on and she said, “I am not a liar or a thief.” I tried asking her who was accusing her of that. I had to ask several times and finally she said that I was accusing her of it. *Forehead slap* Then she said, “A police officer will be talking to you really soon.” I asked who the police officer was (it took a couple of times for that, too. She finally said, “Jerry Feester.” By this time I’m getting pissed, so I just flat out told her that Jerry is most likely dead and that he was never a police officer and if this shit keeps up, you’re going to the nursing home, TODAY! She then laid down on her bed and closed her eyes. I told her, “you can pretend you’re asleep all you want, but I’m not putting up with it anymore!” Grrrrrrrr

8:20 PM – I never got around to updating this today, so I’ll do that now between calls at work. – After that episode this morning, I was ready to pick up the phone and call an ambulance to take to the hospital. The ONLY thing that stopped me was hearing sirens going by the house, likely running to a call for a slide-off accident. I decided not to tie up an ambulance for a non-emergency. She was quiet after that, for the most part, just talking quietly when she came down to use the bathroom. Then, at about 12:30 PM, it sounded like she was pounding on the floor. I had only been asleep for 3 hours at that point, so I just lay there waiting to see what else would happen. She started going up and down the stairs repeatedly. When she would get to the bottom, she acted like she was showing someone that I was sleeping on the couch and then showing the rest of the house. I just faked being asleep hoping it would stop. I ended up falling back to sleep until about 3:00 when she came downstairs again. This time she was going on over and over about how “this is my house. You will be the one moving.” That went on until I gave up and got up for the night at 3:30. Once she seen that I was awake, she went upstairs and was quiet until it was time for me to get ready for work. She did start fixing her soup before I left, but I’d hear muttering from her when I’d leave the room and get dirty looks when I’d walk back in.

Anyway, that was my fun day. She’d better be on her best behavior tomorrow because I will be exhausted by the time I get home from work and will not be so tolerant of her madness. I will be giving my boss a heads up so that he knows that I might call in tomorrow and why.

7:50 AM – Door slamming again while coming down to use the bathroom.

1:30 PM – Mom hasn’t disturbed me too much today and I was able to get some sleep. I’ve heard her talking a few times, but for the most part, it hasn’t been to bad. I might be OK tonight. That’s good because with the snow we’re expected to get, I need to be alert. Driving the truck in the snow can be tricky, like backing trailers into slippery docks, especially the ones that slope down. There’s also the snow that covers up the lines and makes it harder to line up to a dock.

4:45 PM – It seems there’s police cars chasing someone around and around the house. Apparently she’s the only one that hears it. She’s asked me what’s going on 3 times since she came downstairs 10 minutes ago. Maybe she’s confusing the tinnitus she has with sirens or something. I told her the only noise around here is the humidifier, the noise of tires on asphalt as cars go by and the microwave oven going off (she was heating her supper so she could take her pill before I leave for work.) As I was writing the last sentence, she came out to ask what was going on again. At least she’s been fairly quiet today. I haven’t heard too much talking from her.

11:55 AM – She’s been relatively quiet so far today. I’ve heard her chatting quietly a couple of times when she came down to use the bathroom and there’s been a couple of times that she started downstairs and turned around and went back up. Maybe checking to see if I was here? Anyway, just thought I’d mention that since the chatting seems to be the new normal, I’ll just post about it when it gets really intense or stops altogether.

1:15 PM – I lied. I decided to post this because she called who is supposed to be her best friend, Jerry, stupid (see below.) She was out in the kitchen and out of the blue, started telling “Jerry” that the neighbors said that there were pythons here and he needed to be focusing on that. Then she kept repeating our address because apparently, Jerry couldn’t find the house, even though he is an officer. Then she called him stupid because he kept driving around and around the house. I was sitting at the desk listening and leaned back to watch her. She noticed me and told me to quit looking at her like that. I continued and she said, “Shannon, stop looking at me like that! You can move you know.” I told her that I wasn’t going anywhere. She then told me that an officer was supposed to show up to pick up his coat. I just told her, “OK.” She went quiet and after a while, she got up and started a cup of coffee and has been quiet for a few minutes. Oh, did I mention that I’m a police officer, too? She brought it up before and I think I mentioned it in a past post. I still can’t figure out when that happened.

2:40 PM – She’s still going on about that coat. She even had me come out and told me that it was Jerry Feester’s and that he left it here 7 years ago. She wanted me to try it on (it’s too small for me,) then I told her to try it on and it was slightly big, but would make for a nice winter coat for her (I think it’s hers anyway.) Apparently someone is telling her “fuck you” and “fucking bitch” again. I don’t know if it’s Jerry calling her that because she keeps reminding him about the coat or what. Interesting one-sided conversation.

4:00 PM – She’s still out in the kitchen chatting away. She’s starting to get a little loud, though. I just got a “Stop it! You don’t have to repeat yourself like an idiot. What, do you have Alzheimer’s?” It’s starting to get old, so I went out to tell her to knock it off. She said, “I’m just stating the facts.” Irritated, I said, “You’re stating the facts to no one! We are the only ones here!” I came back out here and she started talking about, “Making me out to be a fool.” Yep. Time to go egg it on some more. *UPDATE – She acted like a nut case while I just stood there and watched her. Finally, I got flipped off and she went upstairs. lol Finally, some quiet!

6:40 PM – I managed to get her to eat. She was chatting away out in the kitchen while eating, then it got quiet. Turns out she was crying because “Nobody believes me about all the pythons out there.” I tried again to convince her that it’s because there are NO pythons because it’s the middle of winter. That didn’t work. I just got told, “Go away. I don’t want to talk to you.” She sure does want to talk to invisible people though!

9:45 PM – Mom keeps asking “Jerry” why he keeps changing his name. Shes asking, “Why do you keep changing your name? I know you as Jerry Feester.” She just asked me, “What are you doing? Are you able to get rest?” I told her, “No, not with you wandering around the house talking to yourself.” She just turned around and walked upstairs.

12:50 AM – I just gave Mom 2 Tylenol PM because she is upstairs counting the number of times someone is telling her “Fuck you.” She’s not doing a good job of it. When I went up, it was 17 times. I gave her the pills and told her, “Tell your friends it’s time to go home and you go to bed.” She took the pills and went into her bedroom and closed the door and turned off the light. A minute later, she got up to 21 times, then it went to 20 times. At one point she even said, “You didn’t know I was a patrol officer, did you?” I don’t know who she’s talking to, but she’s pretty mad at them because… “I don’t allow the F word in my house!” Anyway, hopefully the Tylenol kick in soon. She looked like she was about to drop over when I went up. Shortly after writing the last sentence, she came downstairs to use the bathroom and when she got out of eye-shot of me, she said, “23 times now.” She walked out the bathroom and it because “24 times.” Come on Tylenol…. lol

1:55 AM – I think she’s finally out! Thank you, Tylenol (OK, it’s Equate acetaminophen PM, same thing.. lol.) She didn’t go down without a fight, but in the end, the pills won. Finally tally: Well, we got up to 30, then it dropped to 29, went back to 30, dropped to 25 and last count was 29. It also changed from “Fuck You” to “Fucking Bitch.” And, she was apparently a police officer and there were police officers outside that were keeping track of this as well (one of them being Jerry Feester. Imagine that.) Near the end, she named Junior (Dad) as the culprit. That’s odd, I didn’t see him here. I’m disappointed that he didn’t at least say Hi when he walked by to go upstairs to harass Mom. Come to think of it, he must have sneaked by me when I turned my head or something. How rude. As a side note; if I had fought the pills like that, I’d end up with restless leg syndrome. It’s weird that if I don’t fall asleep quickly, most OTC sleep aids will make my legs feel itchy or something and only moving them constantly gives any relief. It sucks, so Mom was lucky that fighting it didn’t cause her the same problem. Anyway, I’m off to try to study the back of my eyelids while I can. With any luck, she’ll be well rested and will be semi-normal. Just in case, I need to be well rested myself.

11: 27 AM – Mom came downstairs at about 7:30 this morning to use the bathroom. I was out in the kitchen and the look on her face said that she was pissed off at the world or something. Fast forward to now: She is apparently awake for the day. She was at the top of the stairs when I was coming in from the kitchen and heard her say something really load. She asked me, “You don’t hear them?” I asked who and she replied, “Someone is saying ‘Sandy…” Oh dear, here were go again. She’s out in the kitchen and just said, “I don’t have a cell phone and never have!” A minute later and she said, “Now someone is saying ‘Fuck You’.” We’re also back to pythons again. Today may be the day she goes to the nursing home!

11: 40 AM – This is a fun day already. I had heated some chicken wings in the oven and had them on top of the stove to cool. I went out to the kitchen to fix my plate and discovered that Mom had helped herself to one of them. I told her, “Thanks for asking.” She replied, “I did ask!” Uhhh no. She didn’t. But she went on.. “This is my house and you can leave.” I told her, “No, it’s not and you WILL be leaving.” It went back and forth like that for a minute and she went back upstairs. She is REALLY in a foul mood today. I got news for her: If she keeps this crap up, I will be calling for an EMS to haul her up to Goshen Hospital where they can evaluate and place her in a nursing home. While I’m not in a foul mood, I’m also not in a mood to deal with a bunch of attitude from her today.

3:30 PM – It’s been pretty quiet since the last update, until now. She just slammed a door upstairs, so I guess I’ll go find out what’s going on. *Update – It took some doing and I got the hands up “I don’t want to argue” BS, but she said, “Someone told me to lay low, the police are targeting someone, so I’ve been on the ground for a while now and finally got up and slammed the door when I came down.” I reminded her that we are here by ourselves and she said, “Great, make me out to be a loony.” If the shoe fits…. I asked her if that meant she’s ready for the nursing home now and I got a nose up in the air and she went back upstairs.

8:20 PM – She’s been pretty quiet since the last update. I went up to check on her and she’s talking to someone/some people quietly. There’s long pauses between her comments and each one seems to be a different topic and it doesn’t seem like it’s directed to any one person. I started recording, but a couple of minutes later, she got up. I’m not going to bother posting it since there’s really very little to it.

9:50 PM – She surprised me tonight. I went up to check on her and lights are off and I don’t hear her talking. Hopefully she’s not getting her rest for a big loony fest tomorrow. Today seemed pretty tame compared to the way it has been lately. With any luck, the medicine is starting to work and things will start calming down.

11:19 PM – I guess I was wrong. She’s been downstairs 3 times since the last update. Bathroom, drink of water and bathroom/drink of water again. She looked pretty sleepy, so maybe she’ll try going to bed again.