Who's Hidden the Carrier Bag

[nightowl]

Mum (vascular dementia and COPD) has just spent the last hour looking for a small, cream, M&S carrier bag which contains her ventolin and her reading glasses and which she needs at bedtime. The stairlift has been up and down several times, we've looked in her bathroom, her bedroom and her living room, several times. Eventually my husband asked what was wrong. I remembered seeing an M&S carrier bag by the back door, waiting to go in the bin (mum likes to put everything into "a little parcel" and tie it with a double knot). I asked H what colour the bag was.
Green, he said.
Good, I said, it wasn't cream.
Yes, he said, green,
.............this continued for many minutes.....then he said:
There were teabags on the floor
Teabags?
Yes. Teabags.
Why, I asked, would there be teabags on the floor.
THREE BAGS, he said, getting rather annoyed, THREE BAGS waiting to go out.
Good.
So here I am. Mum has found her bag now. She had put her socks in a bag and the bag had torn, so she needed a new bag for her socks, so she put the socks in the bag that had her ventolin and her reading glasses.....

I just needed therapy!

Nightowl

 

[May]

Oh Nightowl, doesn't it sometimes feel like you've strayed into 'Alice thro' the Looking glass territory?
You made me smile but I do know how you feel, it's exhausting......

 

[nightowl]

Thanks, May! Just to "hear" a reply makes me feel human - I can go to bed now!! Many thanks!

Nightowl

 

[Tender Face]

Nightowl, there are some 'scripts' that make the Two Ronnies' 'Four candles' seem bland .....

Well done for retaining humour - sometimes it is the only armour!!!!!

Love, Karen, x

(Sweet dreams!)

 

[Izzy]

Hope you managed a good night's sleep. It's comforting to know we're not the only ones living in a parallel universe!!!! Izzy x

 

[JayGee]

Hi Nightowl
Could you try and get Mum to change to a red bag preferably
a cloth "bag for life". I use one as it's easier to find and wouldn't get put out alongside carriers of rubbish.
my husband has vasc. dem. and so I know what you are going through.
Izzy - what a great way to describe our way of life!
"A Parallel Universe" a place you couldn't imagine unless
you live there !!
all the best
June

 

[nightowl]

Thank you all! I'll try and persuade mum to buy a small bag if Sainsburys sell them this afternoon - bright coloured if possible - it does sound a good idea. At one time I would have bought it for her but I have learnt to stop wasting my money - from magnifiers to mittens, my house is becoming littered with things that "will help" and she "won't use" or forgets about. I'm already a prisoner in my own home, so a few weeks ago I decided to limit my help and start being a carer, not a stupid doormat daughter.

Nightowl

 

[Sam Iam]

Nightowl,
you are right I make(that sounds asthough I am a slave driver) mum do a lot of things on her own i,e go for her daily paper's, make cups of tea ( boy can she make cups of tea, she would fit in well at Alice's teaparty ), I find there is less and less that she is able to do so I sort of force her to do the things she can, for her own good.
Some times we have to be the carer and some times the scared daughter who just wants her mum back (sorry but it is true today) xx

 

[nightowl]

Mum's breathing limits her a lot and her cataracts make independence outside the home very difficult. She can go round the supermarket on her scooter if we take her there - which we do every week. The dementia is just beginning to make a real difference. Both of her conditions mean that no two days are ever the same, those goalposts keep on moving. Thank you all for your support today, all appreciated!

Sunset