Life with Mama

Thank you for your get well wishes for my Mother. She is feeling better. The bouts of pain are coming fewer and far between now. She has a neuritis (sp) that attacks a nerve in her head and it is a bugger. She has had it for years and it comes and goes. It may ge gone for 3 or so years, and then all of a sudden its back with a vengence. It usually last for 4 or 5 days. All you can do for it is take something for the pain until its gone.

My Mother gets confused very easily, and when you throw a painkiller in, she is really confused. She kept asking me where our big dog was. I told her we dont have a big dog. She was just talking so off the wall.

She keeps our house locked up like Ft Knox. (At all times) She has the deadbolt on and the storm door locked...you would think we lived in the middle of New York City. If I walk to the store, which is just up the street, she has me locked out when I get back.

She is always cold, and we have a million of those little wraps, which she rarely uses. She will put on a short sleeve t shirt and slacks and then complain about being cold. When she thinks Im not paying any attention she jacks the thermostat up to 75 degrees!!! When I notice how hot it is in here, and look at the thermostat, she says she never touched it!! lol

If I am in my bedroom with the door shut, she comes bursting in with no thoughts of knocking on my bedroom door. So that pretty much takes care of my wild fling with the Indian Chief! Or anyone for that matter!

When the phone rings she wants to know who I am talking to. Then she wants to know what they wanted...lol. She hides everything in her room. Then she doesnt remember where it is. I cant tell you how many things we have lost simply because she has hid them in her room.

If the grandchildren are here and misbehaving a little she will look at them, then tell me " she would beat their ass if they acted like that". My Mother loved everyone....was the kindest person you could meet in her day. This person is not my Mother, she just looks like my Mother. Regardless of her illness, her and I still have a lot of laughs and she always appreciates the good dinners we have. She will say to me.." You are the best cook". Usually I set us both a tray up in the livingroom and we watch tv and eat our meal.

If I am getting a shower and the phone rings for me, she will bring it into the shower for me, instead of just taking a message. And forget locking the bathroom door...then she wants to know why its locked! So there I am, water running, maybe my head is soaped up with shampoo and I cant see, but she hands me the phone.

I would say I handle her illness very well. Probably the fact that I have worked with a lot of patients that have alzheimers has helped me prepare for this. Once in a while I need to go out with a friend or two and just relax and get away from it all, but usually I take it all in stride. I never get angry with her. Its like I am the Mother and she is the child now. And when the situation was reversed and she was the Mother, she was the best!!! She was such a wonderful Mother to my brothers and I. I guess it has come full circle and I am trying to be a wonderful Mother to her.