Spent time with my folks (and other family) today.
Mom is just…miserable. She’s unhappy, dissatisfied, possibly depressed. Every time I talk to her, the first thing I always ask is how she’s doing or feeling.
I asked her that today, and she spit out, “I’m awful! I’m old! I don’t feel good! I feel old! I can’t see! I can’t do anything! I hate it!”
Ok…
Visiting with two brothers, my sister, and an SIL, we noticed Mom just sat there, slumped over, completely disengaged. Didn’t eat much, though she liked what she did eat.
Troubling, though, because she couldn’t remember common names for what she ate. She had some roasted carrots, and she must’ve asked three or four times, “What were those one things I had? They were kind of orange-like,” and she didn’t know what a hot dog was.
We all tried to make small talk with her, but she was so disinterested, it wasn’t possible. She just seemed disgusted with everything.
What’s more, my brother Lee (who’s staying with her while he’s visiting from out-of-state) says that she’s getting worse mentally. He said she was fumbling with her phone yesterday and told him she’d “put money in my phone, but I can’t get it back out.” - she doesn’t have a phone case or anything like that, and she was convinced she’d put money literally on her phone, and the phone sucked it in, and it was now inside her phone.
He also said she woke him up last night, saying that he’d brought her to the wrong house and they needed to get up and leave, because they were in a stranger’s house.
Onto my dad…he was up and awake when we got there, and he definitely recognized me and called me by name. He knew who my wife was (I think) but he didn’t know her name. Always the smooth operator, when we got there, Lee pointed at MrsT and asked if he could see her, and he said, “Yessir! I ain’t gonna miss a purty girl like that!” - he used to always tease my wife like that, tell her “you’re a mighty tall drink,” flirty things like that, so I think he knew who she was, but he couldn’t recall her name.
All in all, he was up and alert, but he wasn’t with it, really. At one point, he looked at me and asked, “When are you gonna get that paperwork done?” - I just said I’d do it later, and that was good enough for him.
He also asked about his mom, and I’ve told my mom not to do it, but every time he asks about her, she tells him his mom is dead and died a long time ago, which is like telling him for the first time, and he starts to cry. I’ve told her to just change the subject, the nurses have told her, his doctor has told her, but she does it every time. She thinks if he hears it enough, he’ll remember eventually.
Here are a couple of pics he has up in his room, from better days:
That’s from the early ‘80’s, on a trip to visit another brother in Oklahoma. He’s in his early 40’s in that pic.
That’s from the late ‘90’s, picking tomatoes. He was in his late ‘50’s there.
Mom is just…miserable. She’s unhappy, dissatisfied, possibly depressed. Every time I talk to her, the first thing I always ask is how she’s doing or feeling.
I asked her that today, and she spit out, “I’m awful! I’m old! I don’t feel good! I feel old! I can’t see! I can’t do anything! I hate it!”
Ok…
Visiting with two brothers, my sister, and an SIL, we noticed Mom just sat there, slumped over, completely disengaged. Didn’t eat much, though she liked what she did eat.
Troubling, though, because she couldn’t remember common names for what she ate. She had some roasted carrots, and she must’ve asked three or four times, “What were those one things I had? They were kind of orange-like,” and she didn’t know what a hot dog was.
We all tried to make small talk with her, but she was so disinterested, it wasn’t possible. She just seemed disgusted with everything.
What’s more, my brother Lee (who’s staying with her while he’s visiting from out-of-state) says that she’s getting worse mentally. He said she was fumbling with her phone yesterday and told him she’d “put money in my phone, but I can’t get it back out.” - she doesn’t have a phone case or anything like that, and she was convinced she’d put money literally on her phone, and the phone sucked it in, and it was now inside her phone.
He also said she woke him up last night, saying that he’d brought her to the wrong house and they needed to get up and leave, because they were in a stranger’s house.
Onto my dad…he was up and awake when we got there, and he definitely recognized me and called me by name. He knew who my wife was (I think) but he didn’t know her name. Always the smooth operator, when we got there, Lee pointed at MrsT and asked if he could see her, and he said, “Yessir! I ain’t gonna miss a purty girl like that!” - he used to always tease my wife like that, tell her “you’re a mighty tall drink,” flirty things like that, so I think he knew who she was, but he couldn’t recall her name.
All in all, he was up and alert, but he wasn’t with it, really. At one point, he looked at me and asked, “When are you gonna get that paperwork done?” - I just said I’d do it later, and that was good enough for him.
He also asked about his mom, and I’ve told my mom not to do it, but every time he asks about her, she tells him his mom is dead and died a long time ago, which is like telling him for the first time, and he starts to cry. I’ve told her to just change the subject, the nurses have told her, his doctor has told her, but she does it every time. She thinks if he hears it enough, he’ll remember eventually.
Here are a couple of pics he has up in his room, from better days:
That’s from the early ‘80’s, on a trip to visit another brother in Oklahoma. He’s in his early 40’s in that pic.
That’s from the late ‘90’s, picking tomatoes. He was in his late ‘50’s there.
