Sunday, November 7, 2010

Getting Old = Not for Sissies

I'm winding down my weekend visit to see Mom.  It's been both eventful and not...as in, I haven't really done much besides hang out with Lo-bug.  But that in itself is rather an exhausting experience.

First, I have even MORE love and appreciation for my sibs who are taking turns being with Mom on a daily basis.  This is a JOB, people. 

Her memory is definitely of the short-term variety (like about 2 minutes lol).  Friday afternoon, I spent a solid two hours explaining to her (over and over) where her car is, why she is no longer able to drive, how her kids are not 'imprisoning' her in her home, who comes to be with her every day, who lives with her.  She is 'stuck' on the car question, I guess it signifies a loss of independence/realization that she is indeed growing old.  I was in tears by the end of the two hours, it's so hard to see her completely unable to retain a thought for more than a couple of minutes.  Maybe she was just having a bad day :-(  and other times she's more with it.

I tried to get her to go for a walk but no dice.  If she can't go in her own car (and drive it), she ain't going.  She is sure it has been stolen, hopefully someone has alerted the Shoreline PD that they should disregard any missing car calls from her lol.

I head home today glad I came and hoping she enjoyed my visit.  But also to let my own kids know they should put me in the home the minute I can no longer do the New York Times crossword in ink.  Or just use the black needle on me, I'm fine with that. 

8 comments:

Katie said...

we would never.

and i'm glad you got time to visit, even if it was no (or very little) fun... :)

Sandra said...

Laurie,
My heart goes out to you. When my MIL died a yr ago, we took my 85yr old FIL to live with us. He begged us not to put him in a home.
You are absolutely right, this is a JOB.

Kudos to your sibs.

Cara said...

of course we will take care of you, at least for a while!

do you think pooh and i need to plan a visit to seattle sooner than next year?

Sue said...

Cara - of course you should come to the Left Coast sooner than next year - but if it's to see Loie - don't bother - she won't know who you are. . . and I'm with you Lavs - black needle it is - no home, no questions . . .

Laurie said...

agreed, we want you to come visit ANYTIME! But Mimi won't know who you are (trust me, she barely knew who I was most of my visit), so better to remember her as she was.

zaideafraidey said...

I am not too sure I agree with you ladies. Yes, Mimi probably won't know who you are but would definitely enjoy your visit. Peter Cougan stopped by a few weeks ago, I explained to her who he was and she seemed to know at the moment. They just visited, Pete was well aware that Mimi was most likely confused. She still remembers that nice policeman who came to visit. She would love it that you visited, and it would sure be a help to those of us who are in the trenches.

Laurie said...

I may have just got her on a 'bad weekend', so of course visits are good. Just don't want anyone to feel that they have to rush to visit, she's healthy as a horse and will most likely outlive us all :-) I was glad I was able to give Lisa a bit of a break, she was able to head down to Puyallup each morning and take care of her horse, which would be hard to do with Mom.

Katie said...

she did know Pia and I when we went, although really can't follow a conversation - she does seem to be happy to have visitors for the most part!