And Then She Woke Up

About the middle of the day today, Mom woke up. She'd had a bath, been off the pain meds for over 24 hours and she'd had another bowel movement and suddenly she felt much more alive. She was chatting and engaged, almost following conversations and smiling. Oh what a difference a few hours can make.

She actually ate a bit more today and drank a bit more than she had in the past few days. When a neighbor stopped by to visit, Mom smiled and chatted with her. Mom even allowed the neighbor's little dog onto her bed and laughed at it when it sat up and begged for attention.

I'm sure it was the relief in her bowels, the cut back of the medicines and the fact that the sun had finally come back out that combined to make such a big difference. Whatever it was, I have to say that I went from tears to rejoicing in the course of the day.

She is back on her pain medicines now, but in a bit lower dose and we are upping the meds that will help keep her more regular. Tiny little adjustments that make all the difference in the world!

Cliff Hanging

Wow!! Some of the things that I just mentioned in the last post have suddenly become more than just a passing note. Mom seems to have dropped into a new phase. The extra sleeping, that we thought was possibly related to drugs, does not seem to be drug related after all. She has been off all medication for 24 hours and is still so hard a sleep that when I went over to touch her cheek to see if she was too hot or too cold, she didn’t even wake up. When I finally got her to wake up some, she didn’t offer her usual sweet smile, but instead appeared frustrated that she was being wakened instead of being left alone. Her sleep does seem to be a bit more restless this morning, but it seems like it is discomfort driven. She has not had any pain medicine, beyond Tylenol, since yesterday morning.

Additionally, when the Hospice Nurse came yesterday she was quite concerned at Mom’s constipation. This resulted in a rather extended and, for Mom, somewhat painful process of suppositories and enemas and other such efforts to remove the impaction. It is apparently not uncommon when systems begin to slow down and when new medications are added to the mix. We seemed to hit the perfect storm with Mom, but we will be much more attentive to the smallest signs of change in her bowel patterns from now on. I assure you.

Her food and fluid intake has dropped off the cliff as of the 12^th. I didn’t know it, at the time of the last post, but she wasn’t just having a slow night, she was dropping into a new phase. Since that time she has slept almost constantly. Even when being fed as much as we can get her to eat, she falls asleep. I often have to touch her chin or stroke her face to wake her enough to take another bite. She is mostly just eating what is required to get her pain medicines down right now.

The caregiver says that sometimes, when a patient is impacted, they simply can’t eat or drink anything. So we’ll see, now that things are moving, if she is a bit more receptive to food and drink. All we can do now is wait and watch and love her.

I’m am not sure where we go with it from here, but go with it we shall. We are focused now on keeping her comfortable. I know that seeing her smile may not be an everyday thing anymore. I know that this is why I’m here, but I also think this is going to be the hardest part of process for me, however prepared for it I thought I was. I think the fact that she no longer responds when I say I love you and she no longer smiles when I wake her in the morning are the things that hurt the most. But I’ll get used to it. It’s just one more step down this long path. I’m just grateful for all the family support and friendly visits along the way. We wouldn’t be able to do this without them! Sincerely! As my sister said, it has taken all of us to row this boat and keep it moving smoothly forward.

Extra Meds, Extra Sleep

Mom was having a bit more pain in her sore shoulder, but also in the rest of her body due, in large part, to her becoming more inactive. She only leaves her bed to be moved to her beside toilet and some days we don’t even do that if she is tired or uncomfortable. So we have upped her Tylenol based pain medicine to help offset the increase in discomfort. That increase in medicines seems to be contributing to her sleepiness and, perhaps, indirectly, to some other issues which we are seeing, such as fewer bowel movements.

Mom’s fluid intake has picked up some, however. I don’t know if that is medicine related or if it is influenced by the extra warmth and sunshine that we have been experiencing. Either way, we will take it! We have even gotten her out on the deck in the warmth once or twice. She has truly enjoyed it and managed to indicate repeatedly how beautiful the view was as well as pointing out all of the flowers that we have planted in the boxes. We moved several of the potted plants down the deck and outside of her bedroom window to add more color to her view. Anything that stimulates her brain is fair game. We keep flowers in her room all the time, as she enjoyed them so much in the past and they still seem to elicit a response from her these days.

We had the 6 month visit with a Doctor from the Hospice program. We are at a point where they have to decide if we are renewed on the Hospice program for another two months or if they feel that Mom is not declining enough to remain on Hospice. I’ll update you when I know the outcome of the visit, but, if they remove us from the program, we will figure out how maintain the equipment that is making a difference for Mom and just carry on as best we can until we qualify once again for the program.  

Mom is still happy and comfortable and she smiles when I wake her in the morning for her medicines. She has mentioned off and on today that she is seeing something above her, that I am not seeing, but she falls back asleep before she can find words to tell me what it is. However, it makes her smile, so I’m good with it being there and won’t try to chase it away!

Up Days and Errol Flynn

This week has been a bit of a mixed bag for us. Mom has slept a lot of the time, but yesterday she was wide awake all day and tonight, about dinner time, the original Robin Hood, with Errol Flynn, came on. She has been totally awake and engaged all through the movie. There’s nothing like the classics to wake a girl up!!

Yesterday morning, as I was trying to check to see if she was wet enough to require changing or if she could wait a bit longer, I tried to get her lo bend her knee or at least let me lift her leg. She was pushing it down onto the bed as hard as she could. Usually this is because it is stiff from being still and hurts her to move it. That morning, as I turned to her to ask her to help me lift it, I realized she was laughing at me. She still has a mischievous streak and a great sense of humor.

The pastor from her church came out with the Deacon today for in home communion. Mom has always loved to have them come out and has treasured the communion service with them. Today, although she slept through the sermon, we woke her for the communion and she seemed to appreciate that we did. Her appetite has been quite good the past few days and she has been drinking much more than she had been. It always feels good when she is more engaged that way, but I caution myself to remember what the nurses have said. With Alzheimer’s there are up days and down days. If we can enjoy the up days and not let the down days worry us, then we’re doing pretty well. Right now, we’re doing pretty well and, though sleepy for much of it, this definitely ended up as an up day! Three cheers for Errol Flynn!