New Phase

I think we are entering a new phase.  We have ruled out the medication as the cause of her sleepiness and it has not passed with time, so I think we are moving into a “sleep more and function less” phase right now.  Twice this week we have actually had to change mom’s diaper in bed because she refused to get up. Please note that I am not complaining, but there is a point in this process where you become overwhelmed with the decline in your parent and you just want to sit down somewhere and cry. I suspect that this is normal. Once, in the last few days when he was at home with us, my dad said to me, “You know the world has gone to hell when your daughter has to wipe you’re a….” You know.  I hear those words echo in my mind when I’m trying to change my mother’s diaper while she’s lying in her bed. I know she did it for me and I’m happy to return the kindness, but it sure makes me feel like the world has gone to hell. Or at least it is well on its way to doing so.

We are usually able to get her up by 1:00, but yesterday we actually had to feed her breakfast in bed at 2:00 because she would not move. She clutches her blankets and says “NO”. She smiles while she’s doing it, but she is quite firm in her unwillingness to let go of the blankets or to move out of the bed. She still has quite a strong grip, in case you are wondering!

Her night time sugar is completely regulated without insulin now. She is getting her morning insulin sometime between 2 and 3:30, due to her princess/teenager sleeping schedule. Lately she has followed the strenuous efforts of breakfast with a nice nap; at the very least a dozing in and out while listening to whatever is on the TV in the back ground. We do make her go into the family room each day to eat as the light is brighter in there and we think that the light might help with wakefulness. We are all entitled to our dreams… Hers come while she’s napping and mine, of light induced wakefulness, snooze right alongside her.  Oh Well.

She still eats a large breakfast, but dinner is becoming smaller and smaller by the week. That after dinner treat, however, will not be forgone! I try to keep cake or cookies or something sweet to carry her through the night, and she loves it. She may only be hungry enough to eat half her meal, but she finds room for cake in spite of that. She takes it for the team!

When I come to bed at night I always give her a kiss or a hand squeeze and tell her “I love you, Mom. Sweet dreams.” Sometimes she doesn’t really respond, sometimes she just says thank you, but last night there was a long pause and then she said, “Too”. I had very sweet dreams last night, as a result!