Alma

Alma
Alma in College

Thursday, May 5, 2011

It's been a while...

I know it's been over a week since I have posted anything.  My daughter was on spring break last week and Alma was in respite care again so I could spend some time with Wrenna. I do want to say that I intentionally did not let a lot of people know she was going back. I did this because the last time she was there, the staff stated that she would become very depressed after a visitor. Due to the fact that it was such a short stay, I wanted to see if her not having as many visitors would make a difference. It really did.

I'm not sure where to begin to get things up to date here. I will say this, prior to her second respite stay at Emeritus, Alma was really having a rough time. Upon returning home from Easter spent at my mother's house, Alma had one of the biggest "tantrums" (can’t think of a better descriptive word) that we have experienced so far. It went on for about an hour and ended with her crying herself to sleep. It was the night before we were to take her to Emeritus so you can only imagine my concern about taking her. We did inform the staff upon arrival of her recent behaviors and the director stated that this could be a sign of a possible decline. I would imagine a decline would cause some pretty extreme mood swings in anyone as they would be resisting that change.

When I picked her up this past Monday, her mood was considerably higher. She was happy to see me and our whole week has been fairly uneventful. She even went to Adult Care yesterday with no incident. That being said, she has appeared more "out of it" than she was yet more lucid in other ways. One minute, she can tell us what she was doing five minutes earlier, the next she is having a delusion. For example; she thought she went to the bathroom in the backyard (she did not) and seemed to think this was a perfectly normal thing to do.

I do have a lot more to add to this. I have had a couple of very hectic weeks and have barely had time to complete a thought. Hopefully, after this weekend, things will mellow out again and I can get back on track soon.

3 comments:

  1. Unlike Alma, I did go to the bathroom in my yard this week. :)

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  2. LISE,
    SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE HAD QUITE A WEEK. I AGREE THAT VISITORS AND PHONE CALLS WHILE ALMA IS IN RESPITE IS ALMOST COUNTER PRODUCTIVE AND I HAVE SEEN THIS HAPPEN. IT IS ALMOST BETTER TO HAVE NO CONTACT WITH HER DIRECTLY UNTIL IT IS TIME TO PICK HER UP.WITH HER PROBLEMS WITH TIME CONCEPT ETC. IT PROBABLY WON'T MAKE MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE.
    GLAD YOU COULD ENJOY WRENNA AND SOME TIME OFF.
    HAPPY MOTHERS DAY AND BLESSINGS ON ALL YOU ARE DOING.
    LOVE FOREVER,
    JO

    ReplyDelete
  3. To anonymous-you make me laug.

    To Jo-love you and happpy mother's day to you too.

    ReplyDelete