Monday, December 25, 2006

you have to laugh..to keep from crying.


Yep....tis me. Hope you all had a great Christmas!!! I had company in for dinner on Christmas Eve, then we opened all the gifts...after we cleaned up and everyone left we went over to my brothers, did our gift exchanging there. Sat and talked, and I nodded off just for a few minutes. As we got up to leave I noticed my whole body hurt. Came home, went to bed. We were supposed to go to my sons for dinner today ( Christmas), but I ached so bad I got up took 2 aleve and went back to bed....where I stayed the rest of the day!!!So I spent Christmas in my bed sleeping! I turned the tv on but I kept drifting off to sleep. I got up this evening and fixed a grilled cheese sandwich and feel a little better now. All those leftovers and I wanted grilled cheese!

Its been a stressful Christmas, my Mother decided she wanted to buy gifts for everyone...I took her to town a couple times, my Aunt took her once. By the time she would get home she would forget who she bought the gift for. Then she loses her money constantly. ( misplaces) She went in her bedroom and shut the door and to wrap her gifts.....then as everyone stopped in the day before or Christmas Eve, she proceeded to hand out her gifts....I should have watched her wrap them..she had them all mixed up. Most people did not get the right gift! My brother was on his way to Pittsburg with the wrong gift for his grandson! I called and told him not to give it to him, his gift was still here. She had his name on 2 gifts. She went to town with 700 dollars. I knew how much she had spent on gifts......around 300 dollars. I ask her where the rest of her money was and she said she spent it all! Well I figured she either lost it or has misplaced it. So I finally got her purse out this evening and looked through it ( which always irritates her) and found 428 dollars. So she didnt lose it. We have laughed over everyone getting the wrong gifts and the mix up....but....what it tells me is how much worse she is getting. When we went to my brothers last night I took a gift for my nieces new baby....Mom had her own gift for the baby. When I gave Lisa the babys gift..Mom said..." Thats my gift for the baby! " I said.." No its not...its mine." She got really pissed at me. So finally I just said..." Ok its your gift for the baby"..I dont argue with her. After Lisa opened the gift mom said " those outfits are suppose to have stripes"..I said " thats because you bought striped and I bought plain." Then she remembered and she apologized!
Sometimes I manage to decieve myself...I think to myself..."she doesnt really have alzheimers", she just gets confused. Then reality slaps me in the face..and I know....I know she has it. She did get me a beautiful bracelet for Christmas...a daughter bracelet! It says what a blessing it was the day I was born! Thank goodness the grandson from Pittsburg didnt get it!!! I will always treasure it b/c no matter how mixed up she gets she still remembers she loves me. And I know all to well ,in time ,she may forget that too.

All in all its been a great Christmas...I always enjoy the holidays and time spent with my family. I hope yours was too! Anyone have any fun stories to tell...like your Uncle fell into the Christmas tree? lol

18 comments:

Neoma said...

Hi Catch, even though it probablyb isn't all that funny when it has to be dealt with on a daily basis, it still makes me chuckle. (Your Mom and the Christmas presents. haha.) Some gifts it doesn't matter who gets them. Like candy. haha Good thing you got the bracelet.... My Dad had Altzheimer's also, it seemed to run in his family, all of his brothers had it eventually, they would accuse each other of stealing things and then fight. It was funny, but it was sad too.

Blogarita said...

Seems like, in my little experience with folks who have Alzheimer's, that part of the most trying moments are when they revert to teenage and/or toddler-like behavior. It's almost funny to those looking on, but not so much for the caregivers.

Sorry you weren't feeling well yesterday; hope your up and around today. And I'm glad you had a good Christmas despite not feeling well.

eZ said...

Hey Catch, we have to laugh to keep from crying, you know it is not her fault, you will be rewarded for the love and patience shown.
I hope,in all that time in bed you had a vist from the Chief!
Have a healthy Happy New Year!!

Catch said...

Nea ~ My Grandmother had alzheimers to....It does run in families which scares me!

Blogerita ~ thank you hon, I am feeling much better today!

EZ ~ I about spit out my juice when I read that about the Chief! lol.. if only!!!!

Unknown said...

Glad you had a wonderful Christmas. :)

Your'e right the important thing is the time spent with family!

Our Nana is getting like that, misplacing things. She seemed out of sorts this Christmas too. It is sad to see them as not themselves.

I'm glad you are feeling better.

The funniest thing this Christmas was when Papa was making Eggnog with Brandy. Poured half the bottle of Brandy in, and ran out of Eggnog!! It was good Eggnog!! :)

Catch said...

Fab~ Thank You Sweety ~ I did have a good Christmas, even if I was in bed all day!

Christine ~ had to laugh about the eggnog...sounds like Pap knows how to make a good eggnog! lol

Dr.John said...

I hope your feeling better. At least you survived Christmas. Sorry about your mother. I remember those days with Betty's mother. when she died we found money all over the house. Its good you can look and see that sometimes its funny.

rel said...

Catch,
Gee catch, Too bad you spent Christmas nursing aches and pains. Maybe a good massage would have perked you up ;-)
Inspite of your Mom's forgetfulness you all REMEMBERED to have a good time and enjoy each other! and you're right...that's what it's really all about. Plus, it's the funny incidents that make the telling in subsequent years years so tittilating.
J. went back to
Buffalo this morning since they're supposed to get up to 6 inches of snow today and perhaps some freezing rain.
rel

Anonymous said...

Oh no! Actually, Christmas in bed doesn't sound all that bad...its quiet there...I hope you're feeling better now!

Anonymous said...

Hope you are feeling better now my friend.I would like a few days in bed my self.
Wish you well:) and have a Happy New year

Neoma said...

Catch, I asked the Dr. about Altzheimer's for obvious reasons, everyone of my uncles had it, on my dad's side, and he said, yeh......there is reason to worry, HOWEVER, he also thinks it just might enviornmental as well......truthfully there is a lot they don't know. Anyway, he said, forgetting where you put your keys isnt the problem, not knowing what to do with them when you find them, is. I still know what to do with them WHEN I find them........haha

Catch said...


Dr John ~ A good sense of humor goes a long way when dealing with alzheimers! lol
Rel ~ well I am sure about one thing...a good massage sure wouldnt have hurt !!!! And yes we always do have a good time...esp since we have learned to save so much time....laughing and peeing at the same time. LMAO

Kat~ to tell you the truth Kat...after all the hustle and bustle...it was very relaxing to just be in my bedroom!

Zingtrial ~ its not bad to be in bed as long as your not throwing up or any of that sort of stuff....lol

Nea ~ one thing about it Nea....if we get it...we will be the only ones who dont realize it!!! lol. My Mom thinks she is right about everything!!!!

Gunngirl said...

Though you were aching, having nothing to do but get in bed, with little or no responsibilities sounds good to me.

I know it is hard with your mom, my grandma doesn't have alzheimers, but she's over 100 and can be very trying, she still wants to do things like she did in the past, which is really irritating.

I am glad your mom has people there to keep an eye on her, I'm glad you found that money!

Also glad your Christmas was nice, sounded nice to me.

Michelle said...

sorry to hear you spent most of Christmas in bed feeling miserable! Not fun at all, but hope you are feeling better now! Thank goodness you found your mom's money in her purse and she didn't "misplace" it somewhere! What a beautiful present she gave you and one you will definitely treasure!

Lori's Minute said...

Hubby was sick pretty much the whole time so we did not make it to church, the kids opened their gifts so fast I did not see what they got from whom, and I got yelled at playing canasta for making one mistake....just another ordinary Christmas....nowI can look forward to New Year's since we are hosting...I just hope is feeling better because when he is sick, I miss him.

Bluepaintred said...

catch i just want to hug you. This has to be so hard. My GG has the big A, and it sucks sucks sucks

honey hugs

Cindy said...

My grandfather's second wife had Alzheimer's. He took care of her as long as he could but when he woke up to find her ready to hit him over the head with a frozen fish, he decided that he no longer could care for her himself. He put her in skilled nursing and visited her almost every day until she passed away. It was hard for him but he lived for the days when she was semi-normal. Those will be the days you'll have to treasure, too.

And, after all the turkey and ham- a grilled cheese sandwich sounds like heaven!

:P fuzzbox said...

At least she remembers the important thing. The love that you share.