Monday, April 10, 2017

My Cup Runneth Over

This weekend we took the MIL to shop for some new spring clothes and to take her for lunch.  I usually just pick up some clothes for her but since she has been in the home and not as active I wanted to make sure she tried on any kind of pants we'd buy.
 
We began the day by going to a couple of places that I have had luck in finding clothes that I know will fit.  We were going up and down the aisles and I would look around and she had wandered off.  Luckily it was early so there weren't many people in the store.  She would get so easily distracted which I had forgotten.  Anyway, at one point I asked a lady for some help and she looked at my MIL and said, "I know you, don't you remember me?  I used to work at the home and you would go out to smoke with me!" OH MY GOSH!!  Are you kidding me!  Even in a small town like where we live she runs into someone she knows...not me!  Never ceases to amaze me.....we don't provide her with cigarettes because of her health related issues.....

We went to a couple of different places looking for clothes and every time she would ask about her purse.  We got into the car and she asked if she brought her purse; we got to the store and she asked if she left her purse in the car; we went to the restaurant and she asked if she left her purse in the car, did I leave my purse at your house; etc.  This went on each and every time we entered and left a building or the car.

Okay, let me get to the coffee cups.  When we picked her up I wanted to look at her clothes again just to see what she might need.  I knew we wanted to get new tops and capri pants but wasn't sure about undergarments or night gowns.  She has a four drawer dresser and a two drawer night stand that she ends up keeping her things in.  We have tried hanging things in her closet but she just can't seem to "sort" the clothes to find what she can wear.  I assume that is because of the decision making skills needed to do that and she just can't do it anymore. 

I opened the drawers and the first drawer was half full with coffee cups stuffed with various items.  The second drawer was full of coffee cups stuffed with various items like sweet and low, sugar, etc.  The third and fourth drawer were full of coffee cups stuffed with various items!  What the heck!  She did this at our house when she lived with us.  She would take cups and fill them with sugar and stick in her night stand.  We never did figure out why. But the number of cups we counted exceeded 20.

We were gone for maybe 3-4 hours and I think the sadness thing was when we were taking her back.  We drove in front of the home and made the turn back into the parking lot.  As we are driving in front, she says I think I've stayed there.  My husband says yes, that is where you stay.  She says, I don't stay there now, I don't have a room there....do I?  He says yes, she says well I don't know where it is.  How can in three hours this disease remove your memory of a place you stay at 24 hours a day?  And three hours ago you left from there?  I don't understand what is happening in the mind.

When got her back to her room we told her we would take her new clothes home, wash them, and return them the next day. 

Sunday, we went back to the home with her freshly washed clothes and found her in her room.  Yesterday she was very happy and excited to see us.  She did not remember that we had gone shopping the day before or that we had even been there.

Today she was happy to see us but when we started moving cups out of the drawers to make room for the clothes she got very agitated.  My husband, in his ever sensitive way, asked her why she needed all those cups.  She said, very childlike, because I do.  I told her we were just moving them around so we could organize her clothes so she could find them and she relaxed a bit. But, as I began to return the cups to the drawers I made a discovery that I wasn't expecting.  In several of the cups she had placed her underwear.  I won't go into whether they were clean or not.  I had to laugh because in some ways she was organizing herself.


This week we have her care plan meeting and these are the items to talk about.  I'm afraid she is going to need more help with the daily living things like bathing, personal hygiene, and dressing herself.  She can convince you that she is doing these things but it's apparent she isn't or isn't doing it well. I will continue to say....this disease is so cruel!
7 Cups from one drawer!


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