Worries

It's wonderful to have one worry off my plate (dh's prostate cancer) for now, since my "mom worry" seems to be amping up. I had emailed that care home that K recommended to inquire how I go about getting on their waiting list, but no reply. I hate people that can't reply. I'll give it another day and then call about it. Well, speak of the devil - I no sooner typed that out, then I got an email from the care home owner, with some info. She only has 9 beds, so sounds like probably a long waiting list, but best to be prepared.

I'm hoping this week my mom is able to get back into her routine a little better and not be as forgetful and confused as she seems to have increased during last week when she had the cold and had to stay in her apartment. Sunday I had to call her twice to remind/tell her to go down for lunch. She was taking a long nap and still asleep at 5 minutes to noon. I called and woke her up (all groggy of course) to remind her it was time to go down to eat lunch. She gets off the phone and goes to the bathroom, comes back out and sits back down. So, I called again and said "do you feel like going down for lunch today?" she said "oh sure, I'll do that. Do I need money for it?" Sigh....yesterday, just before noon she was napping in her recliner but woke up, got up for a minute or so and then sat back down. So, I had to call again to remind her it's time to go down for lunch. She didn't seem to even know how to read her digital clock/calendar. I said "it's time to go down for lunch!" she said "oh what time is it...it says 2022". I said that's the year, the time is above that. She said she didn't see a time. Then she finally saw it said 12:02 so I said Yep! you better get down there so you can eat lunch!. She did go right down then.

Monday morning K went in to make sure she was up and getting ready to go down for breakfast. It was 7:40 when she stopped in and mom was still asleep. She got her started with getting dressed (verbal cues) and said ok I'll see you down there. I noticed on camera it was taking mom forever to get dressed and ready. The maintenance guy did stop by for a minute (he will be unclogging her kitchen sink and adding the bar to her shower) and left, so that may have distracted her from what she was supposed to be doing. It's not that she's physically being slow, she's moving around like normal, it's mental. At 8:25 I see she plops back down in her recliner. (breakfast starts at 8am). My first instinct is to just call her to remind her to go down, but that doesn't let K know that she is having problems remembering to get down there, so I just texted her about it. A couple minutes later she was there, reminding mom and then she texted me that she had just realized mom wasn't down in the dining room and had been headed back up there. She also realized mom had pulled out a dirty top from the hamper to wear, so she had her change into a clean top. By the time mom got down there it was like 8:45. They apparently must have been finishing up with everyone, as she came back up to her apartment with her breakfast in a "to go box". Well, at least she got her breakfast. I'm really just hoping this is all related to the week of having the cold and being so out of her normal routine. I know it can take a couple of weeks to really get over a cold and feeling run down by it, so I am hoping that is what is causing this increase in memory issues and confusion. (mostly it's just memory, not confusion)

DD is a bit miffed about her boss and company. During the WFH for 2 years, apparently a couple people in her division moved away. Then when they all had to return to the office, 4 days a week minimum, these people ended up getting a special waiver. Now her boss (who she hasn't really had too long and does not like) is taking a leave of absence and they are putting in as temporary manager one of the people that moved out of the area and works from home 100%. DD said she and her coworkers are just flabbergasted - they are expected to be in the office, but the person managing them will never be?! I asked her with no manager physically in your office, how would they even know if you came in or worked from home? She said good question!

We've noticed the neighbors visiting family has been fairly quiet. We figured it was because it's been rainy so they haven't been outside screaming. Then dh said he noticed he has not seen Mrs outside at all since they've been here. Well, turns out she is sick with a bronchial infection. Poor Mrs, I can't imagine feeling sick like that and having 6 guests, 4 which are screaming kids, and 2 extra dogs. Mr. said they don't go home until Thursday.

I see again this morning Mom is not getting ready. K came back about 8:30 and she flipped on mom's bedroom light and cheerily said "what are you doing?" and mom said something like "well, I'm still in bed" and K said "well, it's time for breakfast!" and mom laughed. Apparently K then went downstairs and just told them to deliver the breakfast up to mom's room. She's eating now. It's also "shower day" again, so that is good. I think K is going to have to start helping with the actual getting dressed and directed out the door to the dining room. Before last week mom was often getting up and ready on her own about 50% of the time, the rest of the time she was usually ok with being woke up and told it was time to get ready. She'd get up, get dressed quickly, and go down to eat. 

I had hoped she'd be showing a little improvement each day, but she seems to be going in the opposite direction. I think I might take off Friday afternoon and maybe I can get an appt to tour this care home and get on the list, get the shower head installed and visit with mom.