Note - The pictures posted were taken by Mom before diagnosis. The final picture is of her today - from my camera. These photos, for the most part, have no real bearing on the post. They are simply Mom....
Mom in a naughty mood - September 2012
An odd week.
Not so much as aliens venturing onto our lone little planet or anything like that, but just odd.
Might have been the full moon that languished largely in the sky. That's it! Blame it!
But truth be told, it was the two people Mother holds dear to her heart, as they take such good care of her - Leddy and Morina.
Leddy left for a vacation about a week ago (I learnt this this morning), and Mom wasn't very happy about it.
After our delightful day, Sunday, I told my brother and his wife, who were passing through town for a visit, that she was in wonderful spirits - she was the most positive I've seen her for so long.
The next day, though, she wasn't quite as delightful. From what I gathered, she was a bit of a pill! Oi!
Mom with Uncle Peter - He calls her his "Nonny NuNu!"
It was a nagging question, though - what made her change from such a goodly-natured mum to an almost bitter, demanding creature?
Then, this morning I discovered it was all about routine. Leddy and Mo (Morina) had gone on vacation and Mom was worried before they left, last week. This week she kept asking for them, but they weren't there.
Routine for Mom is important. If there isn't something that distracts her from what usually happens and how it happens, then it can be as though someone put her in a capsule and shot her off to God knows where.
Mom with Cousins Janet, Alice, and Marion at Aunt Suzy's gravesite 2012
She knows about her pills. She knows she's supposed (well, only because we allow her) to have one to two glasses of wine with dinner. She knows when breakfast is. She knows she's never been to my house (actually, for the unknowing, she used to spend a great deal of time at my home over the years, and was quite familiar with it). She also knows how things work at the residence.
But, without these two elements, she's lost. She feels lonely and abandoned.
This isn't anything new for her.
I recall Christmas of 2012. As I spent time with her that holiday season it seemed as though my presence was throwing her out of whack with her routines and thinking. Finally, I decided it would be better for her if I were to leave a day early. This was met with anger. However, the anger subsided two days later when we had a wonderful chat on the phone; it was as though nothing had happened. By that time, however, we had noted a change in her thinking, behavior, and we were quite worried (we had had the intervention chat the previous summer which made her fume!).
Today, though, I picked her up, she chided me for being absent for so long (she'd thought I was going to be there yesterday and the day before and the day before and the day before...), and then she happily made herself ready for church.
Mom with Cousins Janet and Marion at Hurricane Ridge, Olympic Nat'l Park, Washington 2012
This made today calm, positive, and tiring for her.
She had a wonderful time chatting with Jean and her visiting children and spouses. She and Jean chatted about people they knew once upon a time in school. It was good for her and her brain.
The alpha-synucleic acids haven't completely destroyed her neurons altogether - just in the short term memory, and the long-term that wasn't completely imbued with her immediate life.
Tomorrow we hie to the dentist (Dr. Brad) to have her crown, once again, put back on. I really do think she has a crush on him. - she says "Pshaw! he's too young, and how dare you try to make a match for me!"
I like it when she turns red.
Warming Back Up to Routine
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