I just do not know what to do. Mum looks forward to our regular trips out of the care home. I give up my days off work to regularly take mum on outings just to get her out of the care home. We go to hairdressers, coffee shops, the museum or library,... anywhere just to give mum some freedom. Mum always asks to go out whenever I visit and enjoys a welcome a change of scene. My partner works in the local pet shop so I sometimes take her in there to cuddle a rabbit or watch the fish and it makes her feel happy.
However, lately she doesn't want to come back into the care home and her memory is so bad that she becomes distressed as each trip becomes confusing for her upon her return as it is like she has erased everything and does not recognise her room, the residents, the carers , her belongings.... and it is like she is there for the first time.
Is it time to say that she cannot goout any more, or am I being cruel by taking her out. When she is out she is like her old self and enjoys and savours every moment, like old times, but am I doing her harm by putting through such emotional confusion upon her return. She would be devastated if I refused her requests for her regular trips out, but, have I reached the time to keep her in?
It just seems so boring for her to be cooped up day in and day out and now she has lost her interest in reading so trips to the local library are a waste of time now and she was a very keen reader before.
Things have got so bad lately that I have fibbed and told her that it is raining outside and too windy to go out so I can just stay in with her and have a cup of tea but the sheer disappointment on her face is tearing me apart and this could be her last Summer, who knows?? We both need some quality time together whilst we still can ?
What shall I do ? Thanks for any replies x