November 11, 2002
|
Friday evening we had visitors from the Alzheimer’s list I’m on. Pat, her husband (who is in the earlier stages of AD), and her mom passed through from Minnesota. We went out to eat at a steakhouse and the food was delicious. Then we went to see a gospel quartet, Poet Voices (which turned out to be a trio) at my church. They sure knew how to sing. Ironically, the lead singer ended up telling a story about his grandma who had Alzheimer's and singing a song he wrote to her. We were all bawling (doesn't this sound like fun?). *smile* Mom became a bit antsy in the restaurant and Pat just jumped right in and helped me. Mom responded well and actually was pretty calm the entire night. Normally I couldn't plan such a big evening for her, but with the last part being gospel singing (which she loves), I thought she would manage. She was tapping her feet and slapping her leg! It was a wonderful night. ------------------------------------------------------ Things haven’t been so wonderful since then. In fact, they’ve been terrible. Sunday morning I found Mom had pooped in the floor in the bathroom. That room is so tiny, only a toilet and a radiator, I don’t know how it was possible to miss the toilet. She must have stood outside the bathroom with the door open and done it that way. She stepped in it and tracked it afterward. So lovely. I had to clean her up and she was having none of that. So amidst swearing, hitting, and her grabbing my ear and just about ripping my earring out, I finally got her changed. This was bad enough when I didn’t change her often, but with her becoming more and more incontinent, I am not going to be able to continue. This morning I went in the bathroom and found she had pooped on the toilet lid. I guess she sat down to go without lifting it. This left her very dirty and in need of being cleaned once again. I tried to wait until she went to the bathroom, so she would already have her pants down, but the opportunity never arose. Finally I had to tackle the problem head on. Once again there was a terrible fight. When I started to pull her pants down, she stuck her hand in the toilet and started throwing the water on me. ARG! She was so dirty I used about half a container of wipies trying to clean her with her struggling to get away the entire time. It’s impossible to explain how difficult it is to care for someone like Mom. This situation has finally become intolerable. This causes another problem; no facility will put up with this behavior either. So tomorrow I’ll call her doctor and see what he says. Maybe he has some more magic up his sleeve.
Psalm 6:2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
. |
|
|