Hospital

March 20, 2011

The entire day was spent in the hospital as Mom became weak and could not keep liquid down. She was so dehydrated and dizzy. They gave her an IV and antibiotics for a bladder infection. It was a whole day of just sitting and waiting for test results in a waiting room chair. So exhausting.

Psychiatrist Appointment

February 3, 2011

The Primary Care Physician made a referral to an Alzheimer’s Psychiatrist to do a workup and make recommendations for new meds. Reggie and I were in the office with her as he made his evaluation. He only took a few minutes to ask her many very general questions and came back with a quick diagnosis of advanced Alzheimer’s. She exhibited extreme confusion and answers totally inappropriate for the questions. We discussed her history and progression as well as medication history. She had been through Aricept, which worked for a while. Then Ecelon patch near her birthday in September, 2010, created a huge leap forward in the symptoms and extreme nausea, vomiting, dizziness, loss of appetite, muscle cramps, and tremors instead of helping at all. So we went back to the Aricept which didn’t seem to help one way or another. So Dr. Jagveer decided to try Razadyne. Again two days on Razadyne and she was in bed a week with extreme nausea, vomiting, dizziness, loss of appetite, and muscle cramps. Her mental state was worse than ever. So we dropped that medication as well.

Bingo

January 8, 2011

Mom went to Bingo with her sister Reggie. I’m always so happy when she spends time with Reggie as she comes home happy and at ease. Being with her sister is natural for her and she can relate all the way back to when she was a child with Reggie. She actually won a game for $100 and that was a complete surprise as she hasn’t won in quite a while. So that made an exciting enjoyable evening. Well at least for an hour or so. Then about 6PM it was back to the usual I want to go home routine.

Move

December 22, 2010

Mom and Dad were moved from their home in Sun City into my home in Glendale. It’s only about 10 miles away but represents a momentous occasion when they abandon their independence to share a home with their daughter. It was either this or a nursing home. After Dad’s recent hospitalization for diverticulitis, it was clear they could not live alone anymore. While he was in the hospital Mom suffered a mini-stroke and went hysterical one night. It was good I was staying with her. But again it demonstrated how much they needed help. They would have loved having me move in with them but it was just not feasible for me to sell my bigger home where we would all be more comfortable. So my friend Larry helped me build in a sitting room from the third bay of the garage across the hall from their bedroom/bath suite. I got rid of my living room furniture to use theirs to make the move less traumatic for Mom. I hated giving away my furniture but it had to be done. It turned out to be a pretty nice set up. Dad was comfortable right away. Mom is taking longer to get settled.