I’m going to write a weekly “how were things” post about caring for my mom, in addition to specific things like finding a place to live, paying for things, and other stuff…..this post covers Christmas and New Year’s weeks.
As a reminder, my mom has dementia so we moved her to Oregon into assisted living. They feed her and administer medications. It’s a nice place that seems relatively social, though not perfect. I take her to appointments and buy her stuff and set up the furnishings and stuff (and my amazing wife helps too).
Not Much Really Happened, but….
Not much really happened these two weeks. Four things of note:
She, or someone in her assisted living place, finally figures out we’ve been buying her margarita mix, not pre-mixed margaritas. Now, she doesn’t need alcohol, but she can have it. It’s just easier to buy mix at the grocery store than to also go to the liquor store to get pre-mixed with tequila. Anyway, she called today and asked me to buy tequila. I suggested she try it w/o the tequila, and from now on we’d make sure to buy it with tequila (which, sure, why not). (edit, maybe I’ll keep a running total on how many times she calls asking for tequila, up to 2 today).
I finally got her to sign the Authorized Representative form, so I can apply for aid so my sister and I don’t have to pay the assisted living place. As we do this, I’ll post about the process often, I’m guessing.
We visited her on Christmas, but I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how much she realized it was Christmas. She knew, but she didn’t seem to care, and she’s always cared. I’m not sure if I’m reading too much into how she was, or if her memory is getting worse?
Someone in her place has Covid. They did post a notice on the door of the place where she lives, but I wish they’d email family or something…..They had masks at the front desk, and I wore when I got picked her up to go grocery shopping. I only interacted with her and the nurse (to tell her my mom’s vaccinations were completed two weeks ago).
Oh ya, one more thing! The national office reversed a credit, and added more than 2 thousand to our bill! The business office at the location is trying to figure out what the deal is. I’ve made it clear I won’t be paying that…..zero chance. I’ll consider moving her first out of spite (though, let’s be real, will I really do that?).
Other Minor Stuff
As usual, she called multiple times about the same topic (s). Four times one day about us taking the bed from her place. Two or three times a day about buying groceries. She just can’t remember calling me.
At the grocery store, she could NOT remember what was in the cart. But she really, really, really, wanted caramel corn (the only thing with dairy in it I let her buy, but come one, caramel corn has almost no dairy, she’ll be fine), so she asked four or so times if we’d put it in the cart.
Conclusion
Not much of real note, but I suspect that the coming week when I really dig into applying for aid will be interesting.