Dementia, part 2

I learned a lot of lessons when going through my mom’s illness that I would like to share. A lot of these, I learned in hindsight.

I’ll leave you with a couple of stories to give you a chuckle. I went to visit Mom 1 day when it was a beautiful day. I suggested we go outside to visit. She told me to stop at the nurse’s station and get her cigarettes and lighter. We went out, she lit up, and told me that she would quit smoking (another story) but that you couldn’t go outside if you didn’t smoke.

• Try to find a geriatric physician. We were able to find someone that we really liked in Odessa. He always made my mom laugh and had some great suggestions for us. I wish we had found him early in her disease.
• Keep your sense of humor because honestly there are some things that you just have to laugh at.
• Lean on your friends and loved ones for support.
• Find a counselor for yourself if you can.
• Don’t feel like you have to go see them every day and don’t feel guilty if you can’t.
• Pray, pray, pray.
• Talk to people who have been through what you are going through.
• Whether you have caretakers coming into their home, they are in assisted living, or nursing home go visit at different times. You get a better idea of how much care they are getting.
• Make friends with the staff and be nice to them. They have a hard job.
• Did I say pray? Pray some more.

This story is from a friend. Her mother was in a nursing home and they called her to come over 1 day. Her mother was stealing wheelchairs from the residents when they were asleep.

Like I said, you’ve just gotta laugh.