We were able to spend the weekend with Cindy.
We did a lot of fun things and some not so fun things.
We started off the weekend, on Friday, with pampering Cindy with a shower, manicure, and pedicure! ;) This picture below is a reminder to me that. . . . .
A caregiver, in all honestly, needs as much help as they can get.
Thank you for your help this day, Paul.
The next activity up was dinner time! Cindy was all smiles. We were the only ones inside eating, and we felt like we reserved the place to ourselves. It was perfect!
I felt like I was running up and down, around and around, getting a workout to help the nurse & doctor with my mom. I had to help my mom do everything and at times she seemed confused at what they were asking her to do. She continuously was trying to pull out the needles and she kept unhooking the monitoring equipment. I'm not sure the exact names of these items in the rooms.
My mom hated when the blood pressure cuff would tighten up on her arm. She looked like it hurt her when it did that. She hated getting her blood drawn and wanted to pull her arm away when the needle was inserted. She especially hated getting a catheter in her, and it took an Ativan to get her to cooperate. I think we can all agree and understand where Cindy was coming from with the catheter. Those are never fun to have to be inserted and to not know why, can only be frustrating. She kept wanting to pull her catheter out and take off the tape that attached the tube to her thigh.
We spent a hour there, and I felt mentally exhausted after leaving. Cindy was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection (the first, that we know of, since she's had Dementia) and she has a bed/pressure sore on her bottom. She is now on an antibiotic for a week, and we hope she'll be back to herself soon.
Her symptoms had been extra confusion, agitation, pacing around, more incontinence than usual, & darker urine.
She was a trooper. I felt bad watching all she had to go through, and her not understanding why she was having everything done to her.
We ended the night shoe shopping . . . . in Cindy's closet. My mom has been super repetitive at certain things since she has had dementia. She has always wanted to wear her same shoes. We finally were able to take her old shoes away, that were getting holes and wearing out. We found her slippers in her closet that she has not worn since they were given to her. She received them this last Christmas. She is loving wearing them around where she lives.
Shopping therapy is just what we needed to end the night. ;)
All will be well! We have been saved again by our laughing and smiling!
Change that frown to a smile!
Life is too short to wear too many frowns!
