I’ll be keeping this blog up indefinitely in the hopes that it may help someone who is caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease, but this will probably be my last post. (Never say never.) I’ll check it periodically and maybe update the links, but I’m moving to another blog: Songs from a Spiral Tree… Continue reading Last post / May 16, 2009
Today bears the same date as the day my mother died, but that day will always be a Tuesday to me. It felt like a Tuesday. Or maybe Tuesdays will always feel like that day, which was sunny in that extra bright early spring way. No leaves on the trees yet, exposing the squirrels and… Continue reading One year later / April 15, 2009
Next Monday will be the seven-month anniversary of my mother’s death. Strangely enough, it seems to me that even more time has passed since that day, and I have no idea why. I remember a dear older friend telling me many years ago about her own mother’s recent death–”It doesn’t matter how old you are,”… Continue reading Epilogue / December 10, 2008
My Mom died this afternoon at 2 PM. My sister and I were fortunate enough to be with her when she stepped fully into the afterlife. The Hospice nurse had adjusted her medications earlier, then the waters calmed and she seemed set on a peaceful course. We noticed her hands becoming cool and her skin… Continue reading Godspeed / April 15, 2008
My mother seems to have moved into a twilight place. She is eating less and less, and sleeping almost all day. The staff at Garden Manor are wonderful, as is Hospice. She is always dressed (which must be an ordeal, since she can’t even stand up on her own) and someone has painted her nails… Continue reading Hospice / April 10, 2008
We got my mother back to Garden Manor today, but now in the skilled nursing unit. Many of her friends (staff) from her old unit came by to visit her. It was the most animated I’d seen her–she smiled broadly, like her old self. Then she seemed to return to the place she’s been occupying… Continue reading Another transition / April 2, 2008
I am slowly allowing myself to realize that this will be my mother’s last infirmity. I kept playing devil’s advocate with myself as she’s failed over the past couple of weeks–how on earth could she fail so quickly?–but this is one of the ways it happens. It boils down, I think, to an injury of… Continue reading The beginning of good-bye / April 1, 2008
On March 18 my mother fell at her assisted living and was taken to a local hospital. I had just gotten into work when I got the call–I met her at the ER and so began the long wait. She had a UTI and was dehydrated, but x-rays and CT scans revealed nothing broken. But… Continue reading Bad month / March 30, 2008
My mother and I met with the man who handles fiduciary matters for the VA here in Providence. He came out to Garden Manor. I arrived early and told my mother that someone would be visiting us in order to have me sign some papers so that she could have some extra income. I started… Continue reading Aid & Attendance, part 6 / March 1, 2008
…since my last post. I don’t like neglecting this blog because I don’t want to suggest that my caregiving stopped when my Mom moved into Garden Manor. In many ways, of course, the caregiving changes. When we had a snowstorm a couple of weeks ago it was nice to know that she was safe and… Continue reading It’s been a while / February 2, 2008
