Monday Memories With My Mom*

The Adventures of Caring for a Mom With Alzheimer's Disease
(*Posted Tuesday...)
     Things have remained fairly quiet with regard to my mom.  Of course, I am grateful for that, but I have to admit when you kind of live on pins and needles between "Med Team" phone calls even too much quiet can be a bit unsettling.
     On one of the rare recent sunny but freezing days, I headed over to drop off some things to my mom.  Lately it seems I plan my trips to visit her more around the weather than convenience or necessity.

     

 

     I realized I would be arriving around her lunch time, but decided that would give me an opportunity to snoop around her apartment a bit which I haven't been able to do in awhile.  First, when I arrived I did my traditional "peeking" from the balcony to see that my mom was at lunch.  I also learned that her cream sweater must have somehow made it back to her.  That was one of her "MIA" items from the laundry.  (By the way, notice how she isn't sitting all the way back in her chair or tucked in towards the table!?  Drives me nuts and no wonder she falls or tries to leave sometimes.  The chairs are on wheels so it's not difficult.)

 

     With my mom's aide Sherri around, I quickly realized that all of the "cleaning up" I normally have to do she had pretty much already taken care of.  The clutter is being kept to a minimum.  I thought I would wait in my mom's apartment for her to return from lunch so I took the opportunity to read the senior newsletter.  I also left a few treats as a surprise for her!!  As time went by, my mom did not return from lunch so I went to investigate.

     Ahhhhh....that is when I realized why she had not yet made it back.  There was "the Don" who had found his way to my mom's table which is interesting since he eats at a different lunch seating than my mom.  I don't do this often, but I was pressed for time and decided to let her finish her lunch and visit with Don.  I knew if I went down there it would disrupt them.  So, I just left but felt a bit guilty about it.

 

 

     Then, on Sunday evening just as we were getting ready to go out to dinner to celebrate my husband's birthday I saw a "Med Team" call displayed on my cell phone.  I held my breath and answered.  It turns out one of the staff was calling to let me know they had found my mom on the third floor of the building earlier in the day (she lives on the first) and that she had fallen.  They said it had happened around 3pm (so a few hours earlier).  They said she was ok and they helped her up and back to her apartment.  I would say she rarely gets to the 3rd floor.  Don used to live on the second floor but now lives on the first.  I am imagining she got off the elevator at the wrong floor, got disoriented, dropped something, and fell when she went to pick it up.  In fact, I am guessing at least half of my mom's falls are from her picking something up off the floor.  What's a girl to do?

     Sheri also called me on Monday to let me know of some personal supplies my mom was running low on.  I plan to make a visit tomorrow and stock her up.  Here are the boxes of supplies I receive each month.  I wish I could have them sent to my mom directly, but unfortunately I have to stagger my deliveries so that she does not over use these items.  That said, I am grateful to receive the supplies and for the relative calm we've been experiencing.