I can’t believe that it has been four months since I posted here. In my defense, In have been doing a fair amount of writing, making notes about my Mom so that I can remember. She was diagnosed with moderate to severe dementia in late February. We saw her family doctor in March and he prescribed Aricept and Namenda and she was supposed to start Aricept right away and was going to wait until after her trip to MS to see her sister in late March before she started the Namenda. I took a day of the week pill container out to her house with her Aricept and put 7 in the container and told her that Chris would be there on Tuesday evening to make sure she took her pill and Bert would be there on Wednesday after church to make sure she took her pill and I would be there on Thursday. I also suggested she leave the day of the week open once she took the pill so she would know that she had taken it. I’m not sure what (if anything) Chris did on Tuesday and didn’t ask because he can’t tell the truth to save his soul—-my guess, he called her and told her to take her pill. One Wednesday, Bert and her talked about taking her pill on the way home from church but she didn’t actually go in to check. I went on Thursday evening and saw the container sitting on the snackbar with all the little lids closed, opened them up to see —- all seven days still with pills. Then I saw the pharmacy bottle with the lid demolished so she could get it open, and there were 10 pills in the bottle, so, along with the 7 in the container she had taken 13 pills in a little over 48 hours. I brought the pills home, checked with Poison Control, notified her Dr. what had happened and decided we would start again when she returned from MS. So now, Millie, Bert and I are taking turns giving her medication to her and she takes the Aricept once a day but after the first week, she takes the Namenda 2xs a day, so the 3 of us are dividing up the 14 times someone has to go and give her medication to her. I am doing mainly mornings (since Millie leaves for work so early). Bert is doing 3 mornings and 2 evenings since she sees Mommy on Wednesday evening, Sunday am and Sunday pmfor church. Since she doesn’t work on Wednesday or Friday, she does AM then in addition to Sunday AM.
We recently had the same issue with supplements. She simply forgets she has taken anything and then takes it again, again, and again. In March, she emptied a small savings account of almost $2,500.00. I wasn’t supposed to know about it, but did and was watching it on line when I say on 3/19 that it had a zero balance. A couple of days later she gave me a note that said she had given the money to my no-good, lying son. He not only took the money but he took her to the bank for her to give it to him.
So, this next Friday, we have a hearing to try to get Guardianship over her person and her assets to keep him, or anyone else, from taking advantage of her as well as trying to make sure she is safe. It is very shortly going to be come a full time job for the four of us when we have to start staying with her around the clock. The Dr said it this way, she may be able to make decisions but has no memory of those. She usually tells whoever gives her evening meds that she hasn’t had any company or seen anyone even tho someone has been there in the AM to give her her medication, usually with a I only thought I took these at night. 😦
Here are the quilts I have finished since the last post. There is actually one more like the one in picture 3 and 4 that was donated (along with 3 and 4) to the quilt guild for distribution where they donate to charity quilts. The red, white and blue one was donated to Quilts of Valor and the two almost identical quilts with the flowers and butterflies were given to two very good friends. The quilt in picture 6 was delivered this morning to my great-niece Hope. I am cutting out another red, white and blue quilt that will be donated to Bugles Across America. I want to make 2 more baby quilts to sell at Artie Fest in July and I am planning on making a quilt to give to John’s nephew and his fiance when they get married in early August. I do have a new quilting frame that my sewing machine sets on where I can move the machine across the quilt instead of moving the quilt around on the bed of the machine. The QOV donation had 30 blocks and an 8 point star on each block, which meant that the quilt was turned 450 times to stitch the stars. Not ever sure I will put stars on the new one, but at least I won’t have to turn the quilt to do stars. So, 13 quilts since I retired and I didn’t even start quilting until August — so less than 10 months ****not to shabby.
I will try to get back to post again before 4 months. We are hoping to go to the beach for a week in the next few weeks but can’t plan anything until after the hearing on 3/10. If you happen to stumble across my rantings, please keep us all in your prayers. Thanks.
Life is like a Quilt 