Wednesday, August 29, 2007

the mom chronicles continued (part 2)

mom's reaction to the movie (see last post) really bothered me. no, it depressed the hell out of me. it saddened me that she was unable to enjoy it. heck, it was admittedly dumb as rocks, but it wasn't boring or difficult to follow. to me at least. or to her age-mates...

monday, 8-13:
for the 1st time in months, i didn't go visit her. the truth is i was angry. and depressed. and being selfish, i guess.

tuesday, 8-14:
i resume my daily visits. she's in the common room of her floor watching tv with the other alzheimer's residents. this is very rare. not wanting to interupt, i go to her room to wait. her bed is unmade (this a sign of the dementia's progression that my sister pointed out to me,) the heat is on (she often turns the control knob to the wrong position.) i'm thinking, "crap."

she walks in. "is it hot in here to you?"
"yes, someone had it on heat, but i turned the ac on. what were y'all watching on t.v.?"

i haven't seen her as alive, as interested, so animated in months or maybe years as she told me about the program. it was about the big band era. tommy dorsey, duke ellington, glenn miller...music she hasn't heard in 40 years, i bet. then she looked at her bed and said, "i should make that bed up."

and we did.

to be continued...

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The movie was a great idea.

Finding things that are interesting to our loved ones is a more difficult task than many imagine. I think it helps slow the progress of the disease. Or maybe it just makes me feel like I'm doing something in an otherwise powerless situation.

You aren't alone in feeling angry and depressed. But it isn't selfish. It's a really formidable disease.

namaste

cornbread hell said...

thanks.