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 […]
An Afternoon in The Life of Momagement Administrivia
I arrived home after a relaxing daughter/grandson visit, and then a spat of errands. The day’s mail was thick with what would take down most of the rest of my afternoon. There was a bill from mom’s dentist, which prompted me to call the retirement office of the university where she capped her career. You […]
Furniture Move – Day 3, Part 2 – Misc Observations
Other things observed while setting up mom’s furniture: All the gifts we gave her for her birthday are in their wrapping in the back of her closet with other things tossed in front of them. If it hadn’t been for hanging up clothes, I’d never have seen the gifts. We wonder if they’re there because, […]
New Word…
When sharing my mother’s behavior during my father’s last few days with the dementia expert I consult with (she could not stop picking at my dad’s mouth even when told by medical staff to cease and desist) I learned a new word: perseveration [pur′səvərā′shən] Etymology: L, persevero, to persist the involuntary and pathological persistence of the same verbal response or motor activity regardless of the stimulus or its duration. The condition occurs primarily in patients with brain damage or organic mental disorders, although it may also appear in schizophrenia as an association disturbance. It is caused by a neurological deficit. My expert further shared that perseveration is a coping […]
Furniture Move – Day 3, Part 1 – Paper
Yesterday morning after a big breakfast, and reviewing lists, multiple times, my DH and I set off on our individual paths. Staff at the AL community had the apartment emptied of their furniture with astonishing efficiency. I, with the help of the head housekeeper, emptied all the drawers, and then spent time going through the […]
Furniture Move – Day 2
After yeseterday’s Herculean efforts, today has been easy. Finish loading the little stuff. Close the truck. Close the house. Try but fail to get on the earlier ferry. Walk about town, have lunch, get on our intended boat. Pick up our truck once on the mainland. Arrive home and take a wee rest. Open the […]
Furniture Move – Day 1
My DH and I got up early this morning, after making sure all our ducks were in a row last night. This included decompressing and unpacking from a six day camping trip… We drove north, picked up a 10’ moving-truck, ditching our own truck, caught the ferry, and upon arriving at mom’s Island house went […]
Introspections
While driving home yesterday (six-plus hours less a lunch stop), I was suddenly confronted with not wanting to deal with my mom’s back and forth, and ups and downs anymore. Like, hand off her care and feeding to someone else, or evaporate, or wake up in some different, contention-free reality. In that moment, in the […]
I Stand Corrected….
Mom left voice mail 72 hours ago wanting to talk about making plans to return to the Island… I must have missed this message by hours, and have been too scared to check our answering service since… To paraphrase: “Hi Sweetheart, I want to get together to talk about plans, not giant ones, about returning […]
Most of a Week Off
My husband and I are taking 6 nights to camp at two locations. Our first stop was the camp where we both spent our childhood summers. This summer is the property’s 100th anniversary of its founding as a summer camp for children (It hasn’t been operated as a camp since 1985). We were there for […]
Dementia Dance - Travels with Mom 