Monday Memories With My Mom - RETURNS 7

The Adventures of Caring for a Mom With Alzheimer's Disease

     Well, we are finally pretty close to being caught up on my mom.  One sure sign that my mom is doing better is that she has called me a few times lately.  Those calls are rare and usually months go by with no phone calls.  I've thought many times that there would be no more calls from her, but then she is always full of surprises.

     I finally felt comfortable enough asking Sheri if I could take her picture with my mom.  She has managed to get my mom back on track in about two months time and I am so thankful for that!

    

      On January 15th I also had my six month meeting with my mom's case manager from the Area Agency on Aging.  She is the same girl who is now "on site" at my mom's senior home and she's trying to straighten out all of the problems that apparently many others have also had with the Med Team.  We met for quite awhile and she was pretty thorough.  Maybe for the first time in a couple of years, I finally feel my case manager has a pretty full understanding of my mom and her needs, and in spite of all the problems, strides have been made toward positive changes.  I even suggested to her that ideally we would somehow get Sheri to also help my mom with her PM Care and getting to bed.  I know Sheri is looking for more hours and I figured what do I have to lose at this point!!??  I even brought her a small gift 'cause I just can't help myself sometimes.

 

     I took this quick picture because our meeting was in one of the "model" apartments in my mom's building.  It's amazing how a little interior design can update the look of the whole apartment.

 

     A couple days after our meeting, I was a bit surprised to receive another "Redetermination" form for my mom's Medicaid assistance.  I just completed another one in June, and I thought I would only be receiving those once a year, but apparently not so.  It threw me for a loop as it's a lot of work to fill out, and I was hoping to have time to move onto some other things.  So the past few days I've been on polar vortex lockdown completing and gathering all the necessary paperwork.  

     With Sheri's assistance, I was also able to sneak some hair color on my mom just before my Agency on Aging meeting.  She needs a haircut really bad, but I haven't wanted to take her out in this weather!!!!  There's a lady who does hair in the building two days a week, but I haven't been too impressed with her work.  In a recent phone conversation with Sheri, she told me some of my mom's pants were getting snug on her.  She said I could "blame her" for that.  Wouldn't you know it, now my mom might be eating a little too well.  Sheri takes her to the dining room for breakfast and she keeps wanting more and more.  I'm going to have to make sure Sheri knows not to over indulge my mom.  I think she does know that, but my mom can be pretty relentless if she wants to eat something, and I'm sure Sheri wants to keep their relationship positive.  For now, this is a good problem to have.

 

     On a recent visit, Kristin wore her goofy "donut" shirt that she loves.  She got a big kick out of asking Grandma if she wanted a donut and my mom would grab at her shirt over and over!!!  Do we know how to have fun or what!!!??? 

 

 

     Thanks for hanging in there with me and letting me get caught

up on my Monday Memories!!!!!