Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Sometime’s I’m Surprised…

Having watched as Daddy progressed through Alzheimer’s years ago, there are many behaviors that I expected when I started this journey.  I’ve touched on many of them in my blog – the delusions, the tantrums, the loss of words, etc.  In many cases, I also know what causes them – generally me.
Yesterday, for example, I rocked Mom’s world.  I knew I was going to do it but it had to be done. 
One of the disturbing behaviors my brother had to deal with prior to Mom moving out was Mom “cleaning up”.  That may sound like a good thing but my brother has a consulting business with many clients and he would come home to find his client paperwork gone!  Mom had “cleaned” and put it all away somewhere.  She never actually threw it away because she is, after all, a hoarder to some extent.  The headache was trying to find out where she put it!
Given Mom’s recent sleeping pattern change, I thought it best to begin locking my office door at night.  I didn’t want her to have access at night to scissors, other potentially harmful things or my papers.  To make that change, though, I needed to move her recliner from my office into her room so that if she wakes early in the morning, she can sit in her chair if she doesn’t want to get back in bed.
So, yesterday I cleaned Mom’s room from top to bottom and while doing that, moved a few things out and moved the chair in.  That is a major change!  You see, for a person with dementia, a change in position of anything, big or small, can be upsetting.  It didn’t help that Mom was and still is experiencing a lot of confusion.  Given the major change, while she obviously isn’t happy about it she hasn’t complained too much – yet.
One behavior that I have learned about since caring for Mom is paper eating.  Evidently it is not unusual for someone with dementia to eat paper and we have experienced it a few times at dinner both at home and at restaurants (napkins).  We quickly learned to pay attention and head it off. 
Tonight, Mom surprised me!  We finished a meal at a restaurant that she declared delicious and shortly after, I took Mom to the restroom.  Moments later it was obvious that she had a mouthful of paper!  
When I asked her about it, she said it was bread – but she hadn’t had bread with her meal.  She was not happy with me for asking, telling me that she was “doing things right, not like other people!”  I quietly told her that I was sorry but that she does do some things that she shouldn’t due to the dementia. 
I didn’t argue with her about getting rid of the paper – I guess I could call it a vegetable?

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