Friday, July 11, 2008

Mom's angry outbursts have surfaced again. Last week I witnessed her screaming and yelling at Terri when taken to the bathroom. Then, on Tuesday the PT and caregiver coaxed Mom to use the bathroom and she again threw a tantrum, pulled the towel bar off the wall and screamed and yelled. Afterward she felt remorseful. In fact when I came home she told me 'she had been bad'. I told her she was just having a bad day, everyone has those. That doesn't make her bad. Last night after she used the bathroom I wanted to steer her toward bed but she headed toward the den. When I asked her to go to the bedroom she had an angry outburst. But she went to bed. I think she hates the loss of independence and she's fighting it. Who could blame her?

We were awakened by thunder and lightning at 3:00 AM this morning. Yesterday a line of storms rolled through and knocked out the power. It was out from about 1:00 until just before 5:00 PM. This produced a lot of anxiety for Mom. I'm so glad the caregiver was with her. I had tried to call home several times in the afternoon but there was no answer so I assumed that the power had gone off. I didn't jump to conclusions and freak myself out so I'm proud of that.

2 comments:

~Betsy said...

I'm sorry to hear about the angry outbursts. My mom started doing some things like that, too, and I talked with her hospice nurse about it. She got her started on Respiradol (sp) and it did seem to help. It was a low dose taken at bedtime. Maybe you could talk to her doctor and ask about some medications to help.

As for the power outage, yikes. We go through that here once in awhile and when Mom was here, she one time had her electric reclining chair stuck in the upright position. It took 3 of us to get her out. Sigh.

I know I say it a lot, but hang in there Robyn. You are an angel for your mom. (((hugs)))

rilera said...

I don't know what I would do without the support of all of you, my blog friends. You are all awesome! I appreciate those of you who are no longer caregivers who support me. I know how painful it must be for you to be reminded of your loved ones. Thank you for being here for me. You guys are the best!

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