Snow Day

Last week our campus was closed for four days which is highly unusual even for West Texas! This time off gave me another opportunity to spend time with my MIL for a longer period of time.

After the second Snow Day I could see that the disease is invading her mind more rapidly. Little things she would do throughout the day made it clear that her mind is deterioating at faster pace than before.

These are some of my observations:
1. She loves our little wienie dog,Carmel, who makes a great companion for her. She would take the dog out to go to the bathroom through the garage door and try to return through the locked back door within seconds (because it was very cold outside!).

2. Washing her hands repeatedly and almost back to back because she had held the dog. I counted 10 times in less than 30-40 minutes.

3. Within a 5-10 minute period, she would ask the same thing she just asked when she left the room earlier---at least 3-4 times in a row.

4. She wanted to help me clean so I asked her to dust and lemon oil a piece of furniture in her room. I was close enough that I could see what she was doing and she could not remember what she was supposed to do with the rag and can of polish.

5. She is becoming very childlike in her reactions to my husband, her son. I guess that is because he has had to become the parent.

6. It is becoming more and more difficult for her to carry on a conversation with people when they call because she senses that she is repeating her questions and this frustrates her.

7. Eating is another big change! When we went to the doctor in January she had lost several pounds but nothing to be concerned about according to her doctor. So I started watching to make sure she was eating. Over the four snow days, I noticed her eating three peanut butter & jelly sandwiches after she had eaten breakfast and she still ate lunch with me. So, she definitely has an appetite. But she can not make decisions or process how to look into the refrigerator to make choices about what she can eat. She knows how to fix a pb&j sandwich or cereal so that is what she will eat if we aren't there to get the food out for her.

Physically, she appears to be healthier than she has ever been. The doctor made a comment in January that he was surprised he hadn't seen her in a while----he said it had been about 8 months since she had been in. That was definitely good news--no back complaints, no headaches, no sinus infections, no coughing---amazing!

Life is Good.........