The restriction on visiting the nursing home was lifted this week. My sister is visiting from Quebec and we went to visit yesterday. It was the first time I had seen her in at least 4 weeks. My sister hadn't seen Mum for a year,
When we entered, Mum was dozing in her wheelchair, both hands curled up like claws, her mouth open. She looked the worst I have ever seen her, in that she looked the furthest along in her AD. I was upset but my poor sister was very shocked.
From about 2007 to last June, Mum's decline had been very slow and subtle. My sister could see only very slight changes on her yearly visits. In June we had to thicken Mum's fluids. A few months we had to thicken them again. We've just had to switch her diet to pureed food. I kept my sister advised of all this but, as she said, seeing changes is vastly different from hearing about them.
We have definitely entered into a new stage. It will be very hard for us to come to grips with this, but we will not have a choice.
I am grateful I can visit again and hope we don't have another shutdown. But I'm starting to feel we are embarking on the final leg of the journey and that is more than unsettling. Because Mum seemed to float along on a plateau for years, I think I pushed the mortality of this disease to the back of my mind, I guess I thought we would go on forever.
When we entered, Mum was dozing in her wheelchair, both hands curled up like claws, her mouth open. She looked the worst I have ever seen her, in that she looked the furthest along in her AD. I was upset but my poor sister was very shocked.
From about 2007 to last June, Mum's decline had been very slow and subtle. My sister could see only very slight changes on her yearly visits. In June we had to thicken Mum's fluids. A few months we had to thicken them again. We've just had to switch her diet to pureed food. I kept my sister advised of all this but, as she said, seeing changes is vastly different from hearing about them.
We have definitely entered into a new stage. It will be very hard for us to come to grips with this, but we will not have a choice.
I am grateful I can visit again and hope we don't have another shutdown. But I'm starting to feel we are embarking on the final leg of the journey and that is more than unsettling. Because Mum seemed to float along on a plateau for years, I think I pushed the mortality of this disease to the back of my mind, I guess I thought we would go on forever.