one of the biggest surprises that Life has had for me is to find myself caring for my grandmother. now we share every day together. i help her to the toilet, change stinky diapers (and if you've only done it for a baby -- you have NO idea), keep up with her medicines, and cook for her and feed her and put her to bed every night.
she has come up some wild stuff. she's told me that she has been married three times. she called me Jennifer and when i asked if she'd changed my name; she said yes because "it suits me better." she insists that she's lost her purse and there is $6000 in it. (of course we looked!)
sometimes i call her on it and when i do she laughs so hard i wonder if she's laughing or crying. the nursing home diagnosed her with dementia. i don't think so. i think its a combination of bored and sleeping a lot.
i know she loses track of time. just yesterday she told me we had to go shopping because she hadn't finished her Christmas shopping. she confuses what she's seen on tv or dreamed with reality. lol, we now restrict her viewing to GSN, Disney, The Waltons, and Little House On The Prarie (and even then we had problems after Carrie fell down that damn well).
the question is, how much of this is really just her messing with us? i know she does. as i said, i sometimes call her out on it and she finds it hysterically funny. in a way, i admire her for it. after all, at 92 what are you going to do for fun?
-- let me just stop here to say that i absolutely could not do this without Russ. you just never think when you fall in love with someone, amidst all the hearts and flowers, that you will ever be wiping a relative's behind. yet he helps me sooo much, even taking over in the evenings once he gets home. during this last month while he's been dealing with Ryan's death there have been lots of times when he had neither the energy or the desire but he was still there. (i wish all those people who are against gay marriage could have spent one of those weeks with us!) --but, anyway, my point is ... (wait, what was it again? oh yeah!) ... Granny comes up with some crazy ass shit. in the last 10 months she's had three UTI's. maybe that's my fault. (i draw the line at the hoo-hoo. c'mon people, she's my grandmother.) apparently an infection in the nethers plays havoc in the head.
she has come up some wild stuff. she's told me that she has been married three times. she called me Jennifer and when i asked if she'd changed my name; she said yes because "it suits me better." she insists that she's lost her purse and there is $6000 in it. (of course we looked!)
sometimes i call her on it and when i do she laughs so hard i wonder if she's laughing or crying. the nursing home diagnosed her with dementia. i don't think so. i think its a combination of bored and sleeping a lot.
i know she loses track of time. just yesterday she told me we had to go shopping because she hadn't finished her Christmas shopping. she confuses what she's seen on tv or dreamed with reality. lol, we now restrict her viewing to GSN, Disney, The Waltons, and Little House On The Prarie (and even then we had problems after Carrie fell down that damn well).
the question is, how much of this is really just her messing with us? i know she does. as i said, i sometimes call her out on it and she finds it hysterically funny. in a way, i admire her for it. after all, at 92 what are you going to do for fun?
Scott, you and Russ are doing what so many other people can't, won't or duck out on. Your caring for your grandmother is admirable and makes me just about want to cry. I work in the dementia unit of a SNF (skilled nursing facility), hired as a "dementia specialist," working one on one with these lovely LOPs (my term of endearment for Little Old People), whom I adore! I think what you're seeing is little lucid windows of her original self. She sounds like an awesome lady. Just get her to tell you her stories over and over (and over). Dance with her (even if she's confined to a wheelchair, she can away her arms to music she loves). Give her lots of hugs and kisses. That will be the makings for lots of stories and laughs for later. I really do admire your job as her caretakers!
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