Monday Memories With My Mom

The Adventures of Caring for a Mom With Alzheimer's Disease
     Well, another week has come and gone with (mostly) only good news to report.  My mom has seemed pretty well lately, and we have had some decent visits with some nice chit chat. Basically, what that means is she has not been as repetitive lately, at least not when I have been around.  
     After last week's post about the "better than usual" neurologist appointment, I called to make an MRI appointment for my mom.  You would not believe the run around I got.  Oh, we don't have the prescription, they have to fax it.  Oh, you have to call this number first.  Well, I can give you her voicemail.  Well, she is not in the system yet....  However, I was able to schedule it for April 30th. Then, I scheduled the follow up with the neurologist who specializes in NPH on May 6th (at 8 am...  Had to take soonest I could get!  Lord help me!)  I hate to say this out loud, so instead I will type it.  I'm praying my mom remains injury free until at least May 6th (at least!).
     The wheelchair prescription has been forwarded to a Medicare supplier, and I'm told it takes about two weeks.  I guess Medicare gives quite the runaround about the way the prescription is written, etc...  I sure hope if she really really needed a wheelchair, there would be a quicker way!!?  Sure would be lovely to have that chair before these appointments at the hospital, though.  Or I may have to borrow one to get my mom to and from these next appointments, which are actually in a hospital/medical building.  Can't imagine how long it might take if we have to walk.
     I also touched base with the physical therapist.  I wanted to get a feel for how she thought my mom was doing with her walking.  She said she can seen the signs of my mom's mobility declining since she last worked with her.  She noticed my mom being more repetitive than she can remember as well as needing more reminders and prompting when walking, turning, and getting up and down from a chair.  At least now I have her perspective.
     I hesitate to even bring this up, but you know here on the blog is where I keep track of things...  I did receive a call from the Med Team around 10 pm Good Friday.  Apparently, my mom was walking back to her apartment after "movie and popcorn night" (her favorite -- she talks about it all the time!).  The aide found that she had fallen in the hallway of the building.  She was picking up popcorn off the floor.  She did have her walker and the aide said she was not hurt.  Ugh!!!  All I can say is:  (a) I'm glad she made it to movie and popcorn night because she loves it (b) this definitely sounds like something my mom would do (c) thank God it wasn't a bad fall; and (d) just this past week the mom of another blogger whom I've recently come to know fell out of her wheelchair picking up popcorn (not kidding) and sadly her face was badly bruised.  I see this "coincidence" as some kind of sign, just not sure what it means exactly.

     Jacob and I brought some things to my mom on Saturday and ended up watching some cartoons that were on Saturday morning tv.  I noticed she had a nice collection of Easter cards she received in the mail.  She loves that!!  I did not make a visit on Easter, partly because my daughter ended up having an allergic reaction to Amoxicillin (she had strep throat), and I got almost no sleep the night before from monitoring her.  (Luckily, it did not become anaphylaxis!)

Thanks for the Cards!!!

A little gift from my daughter who went to Hawaii, cartoons and Jacob!

He Does Send Some Funny Texts!

     Thankfully, my brother was able to make a visit to my mom's on Easter Sunday and spend some time with her.  He also made sure I knew he was the "favorite son" that day... 

Happy To Give the Best Son Award to...My Brother, Mike!

(Now if only I could get him to take over some of these other responsibilities!  That's one way of finding out if he's reading the blog!?)

My Mom Often Finds Us Boring!!