I tried a couple of times again yesterday during the day to call my mom. No luck. I did look on her phone log and see that a few evenings ago uncle did get a hold of her just before 7pm, so I decided I'd try at that time last night. Well, she called me at 6:30. I'm pretty sure she had a staff member help her dial me. She was super confused/sundowning. She had no idea where she was/lives, where I live, etc. I just did my best to act calm and assure her she was ok and that I knew where she was at. That's the main reason I prefer to chat with her during the daytime, she's more lucid during the day.
Then I reminded myself that's why she's living there now. I can hang up the phone knowing she's safe and has people to watch her, rather than spend the rest of my evening and night worrying about her being in her apartment all by herself in that state of mind. I can sleep better, not waking up to check my phone and see if there are any camera notifications. Then dd messaged me that she and her dh were out walking their dogs and a cop stopped and gave them a description of an elderly woman, with dementia, who has wandered away from her 55+ community the next neighborhood over. Sad, hopefully they found her soon and safe. DD said to me "people can think it's cruel or inhumane or sad to put Grandma in a place like she is. But it's truly the safest place for her, because I'm not the one out looking for my loved one". I agree.
And my firestick worked great again last night. No clue why sometimes it works and other times not. We don't have that issue with any of our other devices when streaming or watching videos. Next time it acts up, I'm going to try removing our network and then adding it back and see how that goes.
A few years ago I set my mom up with a "Lifelock" identity and credit protection service. This was when she was still replying to scam emails and taking calls from scammers, rather than just hanging up. I decided to cancel it now. She has none of her financial info and I have her phone set up to only accept calls from a few phone numbers. I don't think it's an annual expense she needs to spend money on anymore.
I'm still working on cutting down sugar intake. At least I seem to have gotten used to my morning routine and used to my sugarfree coffee. I use one packet of Stevia and sugar free creamer in my coffee. For my instant breakfast drink mixed with milk, I now use the lower sugar one. I bought some pudding snacks that are sugar free, for when I'm craving a sweet or chocolate snack.
The chair I ordered for dh's den still hasn't shipped, which is a bummer. And now I see the seller has quite a few negative reviews, so I'll give it a little while longer and cancel and order it from somewhere else or another Amazon seller.
Well, crap. I just messed up a bunch of vendor email settings in my work accounting software. I have all our mfg vendors set up with their order emails, because I send them PO's all the time. Well, after I started using the accounting software's bill pay service, it would send a payment confirmation to those emails attached to the mfg's. Which then I'd get emails back from their order dept's saying they don't want email notifications of payments, that's not their dept. Within the bill pay menu I found where I could remove the vendor payment email address and I thought I was just removing it from the bill pay service. Nope, it removed all the emails from all the mfg's I have listed in vendors and now all their order emails are gone. So frustrating. Now, I'll have to find and re enter them all again and go back to not being able to pay mfg's through our bill pay service, so that the wrong dept's don't get the payment emails. Guess I know now what I'll be working on for the next couple of hours...........GRRRR!
Oh that email things is a pain in the A!! I feel your pain. As for your mama, you have done the right thing. She is being looked after by competent medical staff. My issue with the care homes is only how they treat the patients, I have heard horror stories. I would have preferred my great aunt go into care, but my aunt who was her medical POA did not want that option - she was worried how she would fare for one - but she may have been with us longer.
ReplyDeleteit is a scary thought, but for the most part this place she is in feels like a fancy lodge, LOL.
DeleteWe see silver alerts all the time here in FL and once my husband took a man to where he said he lived. He should have called the police but it worked out. Yes, you made the right decision and she is safe. At this point she probably wouldn’t be happy anywhere. Joyce
ReplyDeleteI'll bet that's common in FL where there are a lot of older retired people living. I have heard of people who have been in their homes 30 or 40 years and still want to "go home", so you are right, no matter where I have her stay she's not going to be happy at this point. No matter where she is, even at my house, her brain doesn't understand it anymore.
DeleteTalking about your mom being confused reminded me of back in 1983 my friend and I were on a bus going up the Gold Coast in Australia when all of a sudden there was a tremendous commotion and a very confused elderly lady was voicing her distress at "having missed her stop"! I don't remember where she got on but she was trying to get off the bus at Brisbane (same as us), and I ended up sitting with her for a couple of hours asking her questions while the driver called the police. So here I was, 24 years old and baby-sitting someone who obviously had dementia. At least the bus driver waited with us until the police arrived, but it was very scary to think how extremely far from home she'd managed to get!
ReplyDeletepoor lady! It is scary how easily they can wander off and get lost. I've also read of some leaving home during winter with no coat, etc.
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