Monday, June 6, 2011

The Medicine Cabinet

Tonight I feel like we had a break-through.  A month or so ago my grandmother went from taking her medications on her own to suddenly taking a couple of days worth at a time.  She used to walk by her pill box and check to see if there were pills in the slot.  If the pills were there she would take them, if the pills were not there she would know/assume she had taken them and forget about it.  Then one day she went to check the pill box and saw the pills were not there.  Suddenly, instead of thinking she had already taken the pills she decided to take more.  She was taking the morning pills for Tuesday on Monday night, or Wednesday and Thursday's pills within an hour or so of each other.  I would leave the house after dinner, after I had made sure she had taken her pills, and when I returned to the house the pill box would be out on the counter or the medicine cabinet open and all the pills would be in disarray.  I decided I would give her the pills one dose at a time.  I got some little bowls and put her morning pills in them the night before.  I give her her pills at dinner, but if I am going to be gone for dinner I will leave her evening pills on the counter.  I have delayed locking the medicine cabinet because I hate to set her off.  The fewer the arguments we have, the better.  But, the last couple days I have left the house after dinner and she has been overdosing on her meds...again.

Okay, now for the break-through...

I went to the store after dinner and when I came back home I found the pills were once again out on the counter.  So, I inquired about it and asked if she had taken more pills and she responded with "only the ones I am supposed to have."  I tried my best to remind her that she had taken her pills already and she did not believe me.  Then she suggested I just stay away from her pills and let her handle them herself.  I have to say, this irritated me quite a bit.  I reminded her of overdosing last time she was left to taking her pills by herself.  So, this is the good part, she sat quietly and read for maybe ten minutes and then she told me..."maybe I should just stay away from the pills and not worry about them anymore.  If I am wondering if I took them I will just ask you."  CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!  She actually volunteered to let me be in charge of something!!!  I couldn't believe it.  I agreed with her and reassured her that I would NEVER let her go without taking them.  She went back to reading and that was that.

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