Doctor Visit

This is a late post. Hey, I forgot! Last week I went with my mom and sister to my mom's doctor. This was the follow-up visit to discuss test results. My fears were confirmed: early-mid stage Alzheimer's. Dementia is another word for Alzheimer's.

So we went through different scenarios. I posed a lot of questions and Mom dropped the "S" bomb when discussing how she would deal with possibly moving to assisted care. S as in suicide. Right the to doctor's face. The doc was very surprised. And of course, she asked if mom was depressed and she had some pills for that too. Shit, I was depressed and I didn't even get the diagnosis. Too many pill pushin' dr's out there.

We talked through that and I think Mom was convinced in the end that we are looking out for her and this is what loving children do for their parents. Her diet was addressed, living in the condo and response to Exelon. I had to push a little bit and talk about things that have been glossed over before. Plus I got to sit there and hear it right from the dr's mouth about the prognosis.

And so it's confirmed by one doctor: Alzheimer's.

Day Fourteenth

Another week gone by. Another trail of memory traps. My sister has been having some problems with this, mainly because her kids keep bugging her about the problems Mom is having. She feels the burden of not knowing what to do.

Mom said her headaches have subsided by the end of the week. It appears Exelon side effects are manageable for her. Is it helping? My sister and I both don't know what it's supposed to do for her. I know there is no cure, but reduction in memory lapses would be nice.

I called her the other day and she was trying to make chocolate chip cookies. Great! But she couldn't get the oven to work. It's brand new but she doesn't cook anymore. So she read me the manual over the phone and was able to get it started. The timer was another issue, but I think things worked out. I never called back to find out.

My sister called me tonite to say Mom had several lapses in memory about events that happened throughout the week; just a few days ago. I know. This is Alzheimer's.

Day Threeteenth

My mom got back from a long 4th of July weekend with my sister. She called me to say she has the Exelon patch on and she has a terrible headache. She accepted the fact this is a side effect. I'm hoping this is the extent of it.

She remembered several events of the weekend, but couldn't easily recall who was all there. She did remember an event from last week (5 days ago) that involved my daugther, Adrianne. In detail she brought up the TV show she was watching that Mom didn't approve of. I told her things have really changed since she was a kid, and cable TV gets away with a lot more stuff that borders on "adult content". She felt it was inappropriate. Good: at least she still has morals!