Furniture Moving – Day 3, Part 3 – More Misc

It was too dense a day for each detail to bubble up in one sitting…

• When the housekeeper and I were emptying drawers, she came across a stash of pills. At least a dozen of what turned out to be Tylenol, a Benedryl, and an capsule of undetermined ingredients. I handed these items over to the care staff, who were appropriately alarmed. While Tylenol is on mom’s med list, she is not suppose to have a private stash. I was assured staff would double down on watching mom take her meds. We also found a bottle of melatonin. Mom takes a sleep aid each evening that is far more effective than melatonin. The care staff sent me home with the melatonin. I gave them permission to ‘sweep’ mom’s apartment for contraband. 
• There was a liberal sprinkling of granular flower preservative in the kitchen drawer that houses mom’s flatware. Given that mom doesn’t use the flatware, I decided not to worry about this, but it was not lost on me, again, how akin a dementia patient is to a toddler or preschooler. Neither understands that chemicals and eating utensils have no business co-habitating. 
• Elvis is a shedder. I bought mom a glove that when worn while petting a cat, helps remove loose hair from their fluffy hide. When I brought the glove to mom, she assured me the human child’s brush and a wide-toothed wire brush were adequate to groom Elvis. Um, Not…. The glove is not in the apartment.
• Now that all of mom’s clothing is in her apartment, I have come to learn she has five beautiful kimonos, including the one my youngest daughter and son-in-law gave her for her birthday. Consolidation reveals previously unknown tidbits.
• I brought WAY too many framed photos to place on top of pieces of furniture. I seeded mom’s lovely Winthrop desk with the dozen or so photos that I was unable to display. The upside to this is that there is something in the drawers of the Winthrop desk! While she wouldn’t remember what had been in the drawers before, as long as there’s Something in them, it will feel ‘normal’ to her.