This disease completly changes people's outlook on familiar things. In the days when we had dairy goats my mom often used to nurse the baby goats on her knee for me, especially if I had to clean them up after they were born, which happened quite often with multiple births. About three years ago we had our last kids and I brought one down from the shed for her to hold. I thought she might enjoy it.
She spent the whole time it was on her knee worrying about it. If it didn't move (being warm, settled and sleeping nicely) she said "There's something wrong - it's not moving." Then when it moved, there was something wrong because it moved. Sadly, I finally had to take it away because it was causing too much upset for both of us.
A few weeks later we had an unforgettable night. I had got into bed and she had one of our cats sitting by her hip. Suddenly she started raving and at first I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Apparently, it was to do with the cat and for some time she raved on, coming out with an amazing vocabulary of doom and gloom - the cat was dying, there was burning, there was wet, there was dirt, there was every kind of horror. Finally I got her settled and she fell asleep. As it happened, she was scheduled to go to the hospital next day for her week's stay and I warned them to put her on cranberry, although I still to this day don't know whether there was a bladder infection involved - but I suspect so. How fine is the line we walk!
- - -
Technorati Tags:
alzheimers, alzheimers care, dementia, caregiver, alzheimers disease
No comments:
Post a Comment