Hello Everyone,
Mom is staying in bed much more now. I walked in her room this morning to check on her, she was laying there watching tv, something she never did in her past. She looked at me and said her legs felt like they were filled with water and were going to pop. I instantly thought oh dear, she's really sick.......her legs were fine. I then asked her if she needed to go to the bathroom and she said oh yes! I figured that she meant she wanted to use the toilet! It's a daily challenge to figure out what she is trying to communicate. When she is looking for her dead sisters, her mother, her father, I have to remember that she is in a different world than I. It was hard at first, but, now I just travel back in time with her as best I can, trying to be the teenager she thinks I am. She does not know me as her daughter much anymore, which I have turned into a bit of a blessing. She and I always had a strained as best relationship, when she forgot that I was her daughter, she was much nicer to me! It also took away much of the old resentments and fears she would stir up in me. Much easier to be a sister she loved instead of a daughter she argued with and tried to control her whole life. What I'm trying to say is that our relationship as mother and daughter is no longer, it's something I've accepted and actually come to like.
I am a 53 year old married woman, my husband works out of town all week, coming home on the weekends. I have a 14 year old yellow lab that has to be lifted up to get up, he's healthy otherwise, I constantly awaken, thinking either one of them will have passed, but, as I look, they are both just peacefully sleeping. Some days are worse than others, without this discussion board, I do not know how I could cope. I thank you all for all your information, thoughts, insights, and just plain honesty.
Dementia and caregiving are the 2 most horrible or gratifying things in my life right now. If I am not spiritually sound, mentally strong, physically feeling at my best, it can be a nightmare. It is also a huge learning experience. Here's to another day.
Cheers!
Mom is staying in bed much more now. I walked in her room this morning to check on her, she was laying there watching tv, something she never did in her past. She looked at me and said her legs felt like they were filled with water and were going to pop. I instantly thought oh dear, she's really sick.......her legs were fine. I then asked her if she needed to go to the bathroom and she said oh yes! I figured that she meant she wanted to use the toilet! It's a daily challenge to figure out what she is trying to communicate. When she is looking for her dead sisters, her mother, her father, I have to remember that she is in a different world than I. It was hard at first, but, now I just travel back in time with her as best I can, trying to be the teenager she thinks I am. She does not know me as her daughter much anymore, which I have turned into a bit of a blessing. She and I always had a strained as best relationship, when she forgot that I was her daughter, she was much nicer to me! It also took away much of the old resentments and fears she would stir up in me. Much easier to be a sister she loved instead of a daughter she argued with and tried to control her whole life. What I'm trying to say is that our relationship as mother and daughter is no longer, it's something I've accepted and actually come to like.
I am a 53 year old married woman, my husband works out of town all week, coming home on the weekends. I have a 14 year old yellow lab that has to be lifted up to get up, he's healthy otherwise, I constantly awaken, thinking either one of them will have passed, but, as I look, they are both just peacefully sleeping. Some days are worse than others, without this discussion board, I do not know how I could cope. I thank you all for all your information, thoughts, insights, and just plain honesty.
Dementia and caregiving are the 2 most horrible or gratifying things in my life right now. If I am not spiritually sound, mentally strong, physically feeling at my best, it can be a nightmare. It is also a huge learning experience. Here's to another day.
Cheers!