So, I thought I would just share some of the small, strange things I find and deal with on a daily basis. I just need to get some off my chest. These things grandma does are not a big deal, just strange. For example, my grandmother has become obsessed with sweets. The fridge is filled with food and there are all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables at her fingertips, but she will pick the cookies or brownies every time. This is something I have heard other older people doing, but I have never experienced it first-hand. Friday I made a big pan of brownies, the family size. I had one brownie and the boys had a brownie and my grandmother ate the rest of the pan in just two days. I don't know how she did it, but she did. So, by Sunday the brownies were gone and on Monday my aunt brings by a loaf of banana bread she just made. Again, I had a piece and the boys had a piece of the bread. Then, a few hours later the loaf is half gone. I even catch her having a piece of banana nut bread with her meatloaf for dinner. Gross! Later that night I decide I would like a little something sweet and I go look for the banana bread and I can't find it anywhere. I check the cabinets, the fridge and then the freezer. There it is...why? It is also wrapped heavily with saran wrap. I look over and notice she has unwrapped the taco shells I had wrapped the night before and wrapped the bread in that and left the taco shells sitting on the counter. That is just a weird thing to do.
Every night I wash the dishes and leave them out to dry. And every morning she tells me she was going to put them away but didn't know where they went. She always puts them away anyway in random places. So, for the rest of the day I will open a cabinet and stop to rearrange its contents. The boys' spoons, for example, are things she has no idea what to do with. She tells me, "now I don't know where you want these, so I've just been putting them here." Unfortunately, the "here" she refers to is different every time she says it. I find these things everywhere, all over the kitchen, in every drawer and cabinet.
Yesterday I was going to a friend's house but had to get the recycle to the curb before I left. I was running back and forth, in and out, carrying out our recycleables. I run to the curb and drop off some newspaper and by the time I make it back to the porch she had locked the screen and locked me out. I knock and she is no where to be found. Apparently she was in the back of the house and couldn't hear me knocking...for five minutes. Needless to say, I was late to meet my friend.
So, there are a few examples of my strange findings.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Rough Week
Yesterday I took my grandmother's pills away from her. I have been in charge of administering them all along but have always left the bottles in the medicine cabinet. But, yesterday I made the decision I had been putting off and I have moved the medicine into my room and hid it away from her. This is something that I have been dreading but it finally had to be done. I know she is not getting any better. So, last night I gave her her pills while we ate dinner. After dinner she asked me twice is she'd taken them and I reminded her that she had and exactly when and how she ate them. I have to step out of the house and run an errand and it takes me half an hour. Now remember, I told her right before I left she had already taken her pills, but when I get back I open the cabinet to prepare her morning pills and find the pill bottles have all been rearranged and some are out and I don't know if she took more or not. So, for her safety, I am hiding her pills from her. I am dreading the conversation we are bound to have eventually about where they are and why. But, I guess this is just part of it.
She has also been really bossy over the last couple of weeks. She tries to be in charge of everything, me and the boys included. This can be trying on my nerves. She has been saying, "okay, I have to leave the room now, you are in charge of the boys." She reminds me of how fast I am driving and how I should remember the "precious cargo" I have in my backseat. I go the speed limit, but apparently 70 mph is too fast, even on the interstate. When I have trouble getting one of the boys to eat all his dinner she begins to tell me what I have done wrong all day to make this happen. Apparently in her day she did not give her children snacks throughout the day. I do. Also, she never drank anything with her meal, she always waited until she was completely done eating before she would drink. I let my children drink and this is wrong. And I am reminded numerous times a day because she forgets from minute to minute what she is saying.
The kicker is, to a stranger or someone that doesn't talk to her everyday or live with her, she sounds completely fine. You ask her what she did today and she goes through a list of laundry, dishes, ironing, etc. These things sound completely believable and completely fine. Unfortunately, nothing is true. She doesn't do any of these things anymore. I do the laundry and the dishes because she can't figure out which bottle of detergent to use, and she can't remember where the dishes go to put them away. She also can't do the ironing because she can't rember where the ironing board is or the iron. Old relatives or friends call that haven't talked to her in months or even years and she goes on and on and about ninety percent of it is false.
I do feel sorry for her. I think she must feel really alone because she doesn't remember when people come by or call. She thinks no one cares or remembers her. She also does not realize that she has alzheimer's. This is challenging for both of us.
She has also been really bossy over the last couple of weeks. She tries to be in charge of everything, me and the boys included. This can be trying on my nerves. She has been saying, "okay, I have to leave the room now, you are in charge of the boys." She reminds me of how fast I am driving and how I should remember the "precious cargo" I have in my backseat. I go the speed limit, but apparently 70 mph is too fast, even on the interstate. When I have trouble getting one of the boys to eat all his dinner she begins to tell me what I have done wrong all day to make this happen. Apparently in her day she did not give her children snacks throughout the day. I do. Also, she never drank anything with her meal, she always waited until she was completely done eating before she would drink. I let my children drink and this is wrong. And I am reminded numerous times a day because she forgets from minute to minute what she is saying.
The kicker is, to a stranger or someone that doesn't talk to her everyday or live with her, she sounds completely fine. You ask her what she did today and she goes through a list of laundry, dishes, ironing, etc. These things sound completely believable and completely fine. Unfortunately, nothing is true. She doesn't do any of these things anymore. I do the laundry and the dishes because she can't figure out which bottle of detergent to use, and she can't remember where the dishes go to put them away. She also can't do the ironing because she can't rember where the ironing board is or the iron. Old relatives or friends call that haven't talked to her in months or even years and she goes on and on and about ninety percent of it is false.
I do feel sorry for her. I think she must feel really alone because she doesn't remember when people come by or call. She thinks no one cares or remembers her. She also does not realize that she has alzheimer's. This is challenging for both of us.
Friday, August 5, 2011
And We're Back...
Okay, so it has been a VERY long time since my last post and now I am back. I have been out of town for the last month and grandma has been here staying with my mom and aunt. I called to chat while out of town and she totally tattled on them. Things they wouldn't let her do and how unfair they were being. It was so cute and funny. I just let her vent.
When I got back she was tickled to see the boys and myself. And all evening she has been telling me all her stories over again. Like the little brown bowl that she has in the kitchen. She used to have a set of two or three of these mixing bowls. But, over the years they have gotten broken or misplaced and now she is down to one. She truly believes that this one bowl is all she has ever had and at one time, a long time ago, she dropped that bowl and it cracked. She didn't want to throw it away so she just put it in the back of the cabinet. Since I moved in, I have been using this bowl. Every time I get it out she tells me the story of how she cracked it a long ago and over the years the bowl has grown back together.
Poor grandma is constantly getting lost in the kitchen. She told me tonight that she just can't find anything in the kitchen cabinets after I moved in. I didn't move anything and I reminded her of this, but apparently I have been piling things in front of hers and she can't find her things anymore. I didn't have the heart to tell her that is wasn't just since I moved in, that she couldn't find things before.
Apparently this week the garbage man accidently dropped her trash can into the truck and ripped it to shreds. My mom discovered this and she and grandma drove up and down the road and checked around the house to see if someone had perhaps carried it off. This all happened this morning and when I got home she told me that we had been robbed. It happened last night and she wasn't here, thank goodness. They stole everything that was outside...the trash can, the recycle bin, and the mail box. She was very distraught about where she was going to put her papers. She is so cute! I reassured her that the recycle bin was still out there and I could take her papers out and told her about the trash truck eating the can and they would be replacing it. A few hours later she asked me how I was going to get the mail since the mailbox was gone. Poor thing didn't remember.
She has started referring to the time before when she could remember things. And she is starting to refer to this more and more. Like she is more aware that she is losing her memory? Too soon to tell I guess...
When I got back she was tickled to see the boys and myself. And all evening she has been telling me all her stories over again. Like the little brown bowl that she has in the kitchen. She used to have a set of two or three of these mixing bowls. But, over the years they have gotten broken or misplaced and now she is down to one. She truly believes that this one bowl is all she has ever had and at one time, a long time ago, she dropped that bowl and it cracked. She didn't want to throw it away so she just put it in the back of the cabinet. Since I moved in, I have been using this bowl. Every time I get it out she tells me the story of how she cracked it a long ago and over the years the bowl has grown back together.
Poor grandma is constantly getting lost in the kitchen. She told me tonight that she just can't find anything in the kitchen cabinets after I moved in. I didn't move anything and I reminded her of this, but apparently I have been piling things in front of hers and she can't find her things anymore. I didn't have the heart to tell her that is wasn't just since I moved in, that she couldn't find things before.
Apparently this week the garbage man accidently dropped her trash can into the truck and ripped it to shreds. My mom discovered this and she and grandma drove up and down the road and checked around the house to see if someone had perhaps carried it off. This all happened this morning and when I got home she told me that we had been robbed. It happened last night and she wasn't here, thank goodness. They stole everything that was outside...the trash can, the recycle bin, and the mail box. She was very distraught about where she was going to put her papers. She is so cute! I reassured her that the recycle bin was still out there and I could take her papers out and told her about the trash truck eating the can and they would be replacing it. A few hours later she asked me how I was going to get the mail since the mailbox was gone. Poor thing didn't remember.
She has started referring to the time before when she could remember things. And she is starting to refer to this more and more. Like she is more aware that she is losing her memory? Too soon to tell I guess...
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