Sigh of Relief

Mom is settling into her new room in the geriatric psych unit. It is a nice setting, doesn't look too institutional and the staff seems good. Hopefully they will get her meds straightened out and figure out what is causing some of her behaviors. It went easier than I thought it would. But she was angry and upset when I left. My Mom the fighter was ready to leave with me. And I wanted to take her. But I know this is what is best for her. We need to get to the bottom of this and make sure that she receives the best care. We love our Mom and want the best for her.

I'm touring a new memory care facility this afternoon that seems like it might be a better fit for us. Cross your fingers and send your prayers our way.

Thank you my blogger friends, I wouldn't be able to do this without your love and support and the love and support of my family. You all mean the world to me my friends.

Oh...I slept through the night last night! Woo hoo!

Sundowning is the Pits!

Mom's sundowning has gotten worse with the shorter hours of daylight. Last night in bed she was sleeping fitfully. Olivia laid down next to her and Mom starting flailing her arms and hit Olivia several times resulting in Olivia giving Mom a nip. I think this has happened before because Mom has teeth marks on her arm that I have been monitoring. Mom denies that Olivia had anything to do with them. They are nicely healed now. Except Mom keeps picking off the scabs even though I have them covered with Band-Aids.

Today was mostly an overcast day. LaShay is back as Mom's afternoon caregiver and it went very well. In the past Mom has gotten extremely upset when LaShay showed up. Today when LaShay left Mom told her she loved her.

We are going to paint Mom's room a soothing shade of pale blue-green called 'Watery'. It's nearly the same color as the one we used in her bedroom here at home. We are trying to keep things as familiar as possible for Mom's transition to her new home.

Yesterday I spoke to the Geriatric Care Manager and she helped me feel a little more at ease with this decision. I know we can never be completely at peace with this though. I feel like this person is going to be a huge asset for us. She said that she has a client at Summit Place and we could not ask for a better place for Mom. She knows many of the staff there and she said they are wonderful.

Icky Dilemma

My sister and I are struggling with whether to tell and when to tell Mom she is moving to a memory care facility. In the past when I have mentioned it Mom has gotten very upset and agitated. She likes being in her home. Doing what she wants to do when she wants to do it. This is going to be hard. How do we do it? I'm going to check with the geriatric care manager to see what she suggests. And my therapist. Does anyone else have any ideas? I'm not looking forward to this. I've already read that it's one of the hardest, ickiest things a child is faced with when their parent has memory loss.

The home care agency that we use was sold to a larger national chain called LivHome. I have to admit that I'm a little nervous about this change even though they've assured me that we will keep the same caregivers. According to them our service should improve because the case managers are certified geriatric care managers. Time will tell.

Today I finally was able to see Mom interact with the physical therapist and she truly seems to enjoy it! They do exercises and practice playing catch. The only problem is with Mom's mobility. We seem to have pinpointed where some of her pain originates; the right knee and the left hip. I emailed Mom's doc and she said that at our next appointment we can evaluate narcotic pain relievers for her. She is concerned about them interacting with her other meds. I can appreciate her concern as I only want what is best for Mom. But I also don't want her to experience pain when she walks.

It has been overcast and it rained quite heavily this evening. Mom had a busy day today between the caregivers, the nurses from the home care agency and our house cleaner who all showed up today. She was up at 3:00 AM this morning, ready to go. Today she didn't get to nap so maybe she will sleep through the night.

This afternoon I met with the Geriatric Care Manager. Mom LOVED her! I'm not sure what it was that she liked about her, but she has commented several times about how much she liked her. She said she 'looks like us'. Not sure what that means. I think I would definitely utilize a care manager as we approach moving Mom to a facility and even once she is in the facility. The care manager had positive things to say about all 3 facilities that we have chosen so that is good.

Yesterday I learned about something called a Joy Kit that is used to stimulate memories for the ALZ patient and allows someone to spend quality one on one time with the person who has memory loss. It is broken down by disease stage. I was quite impressed by it and am going to try to put some together for Mom. I stopped by Michaels after my therapist appointment and picked up some beads for stringing, some foam backing for making puzzles and some coloring books.

The sun is out and the temperature is 22F. Yay.

One thing that the lawyer suggested that we look into is a geriatric care manager. Today I talked to two different agencies. They can act as an advocate for Mom in all aspects of her care. One agency is called Rent A Daughter. Boy I could have used something like that 3 years ago.

Today, one of the memory care facilities called to say that they will have a vacancy in 30 days. I was very unprepared for this but I still had enough faculties to ask if I could think about it. Then I called my sister. She suggested that I visit the facility to see the suite that is available. This particular facility is approximately 9 miles from my home; it's the one that is the furthest from our home in fact.

Mom's usual caregivers were not available today so we had substitutes. I don't think she was given breakfast and they didn't give her her morning pills. I don't think she had much at all to eat today so I added a note to her care plan about making sure that she has breakfast, lunch and her pills.

I'm finally feeling close to 100% again. The antibiotics must have kicked in. Yay. It's still cold here. I'm so over it. Bring on spring.