From a Journal I had started offline last August.

Aug 13, 2008
Brought mom home from the hospital, after spending 16 days in the Behavioral Health Unit there. They changed some of her meds.....added some, deleted some.
She is having a pretty good afternoon..........not real talkative, but seems very content to be home in her own bedroom.

Aug 14, 2008 Thursday
I stayed home with mom all day.
We got her hair done this afternoon, and we had some pretty good conversations today.. She had her moments of not talking, or being zoned out, but not bad.
It was a bad night for trying to get her to sleep. She fought me and fought sleep.

Aug 15, 2008
Friday
had a great morning
stayed home by herself and napped and read the cappers. Bryanna spent the afternoon here with mom. She rested all afternoon.
Isaac joined us for the evening and night. He said "Hi MeMa" when he got here and mom said Hi mema back :) That cracked Isaac up! But she knew who Isaac was.
Trying to get her to bed was a chore again.
She came down the hall in the dark to tell me at midnight that Dwayne and crystal and the grandkids were outside but when she got to the door they were gone.........she had gotten out of bed, put her teeth in and put her robe on. I took her back to bed and told her no one was there. She said Wanna bet 50 bucks? I finally convinced her no one was there, so she got in bed, and I curled up in her recliner to sleep there if need be..........and she said, okay, Sharon, I’m fine I can go to sleep now and she was out in 3 minutes !

Aug 16, 2008 Saturday
not the best day. She was not good at conversing, but not bad, either. She knows she is 75, and I had to tell her I am 48, but then she knew sandy was 3 years older than me and Calvin 2 years older than sandy.
Went to Cydnee’s b/d party, and mom pretty much just sat and looked around.... Cydnee did hug her.
It is 10:25 p.m. and mom is not asleep, but she is very coherent and said as long as her music plays she will be able to get to sleep.
She was like, tonight is Saturday already? She really is looking forward to going to church in the morning.

Aug 17, 2008
Sunday
mom was up when I got up at 8;30
she ate breakfast then we went to church. She didn’t seem to know for sure where we were going but she knew what Bible was hers and she sang the songs and she followed along with the scripture when Bro. Larry was preaching. But then it was like she was gone again.
She rested all afternoon, and now is in bed.

August 22, 2008
This past week has been up and down. Mom had a great Monday and Tuesday was good, too. She carried on a conversation, and was more with it, than not. Sandy, Rachel and Abbye were coming to see her Wed. Afternoon, so Wed. Morning she was up before me, had her clothes laid out to get dressed after her shower, so she would be ready to see the "family". But, by afternoon, when they got here, Sandy said she just stared and did not acknowledge them. Sandy brought her some new shoes.
Thursday we got her hair done, and then Thursday night I thought she was in bed, asleep, but about midnight, she came down the hall and turned the light on......and said, look Sharon, the other pair of shoes Sandy got me, fit better than the pair I had on today. I took her back to bed, and got her settled, then she said, "ok, Sharon, I won’t pull any more stunts tonight." and she was asleep shortly.
Today, Friday, she was so/so. Isaac was here all day with her, and when home health came this morning, they got her bedding changed, and her room cleaned, and she was dressed.
Tonight we played chinese checkers with her. She won the first game, but only because she cheated............I was just thrilled she was playing, so I didn’t care. She seemed more with it the second game, but the way she had her marbles, and mine and Isaacs were, I was able to cross the whole board and take a marble home in one move. I looked at mom and said, look what I just did............and she said "you farted".... which was not true.....................Isaac and I laughed and laughed and mom joined in with us............... She has done several things that tend to crack Isaac up........
Like at supper tonight, I fixed chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans. There were a few dark choc m&ms left on the table in a bowl.........when I took moms pills to her, I noticed the lid was off the bowl and it was empty...............then I saw what she had done..........she had dumped the m&m’s on her potatoes and gravy..............and she ate every bite of it.........she had very colorful gravy as the m&ms melted...........:)

Aug 26, 2006 Tuesday.
Mom had a great day today
up at 6:20 am after going to bed after 11 last night
ate breakfast went back to her room by herself and turned on her tv to watch it
was dressed and ready for lunch at 1
spent afternoon by herself cause no one could come stay with her.
Watched tv and napped in afternoon
carried on a conversation after I got home from work
said she was glad casino was not coming to wellington
"promised" to go to bed tonight and stay there.
It is 9:15 and she is in bed...........and acting like she will not be getting up.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for such a good day with mom.

Jan 11, 2009
Wen to church this morning, and I was rushing around as today I am having a birthday party for mom. So I had a ton of food to load, and mom dressed herself in the clothes I laid out. We got to church on time, and Pastor was in the middle of his sermon, when mom looked at me, placed her hand under her breast and said, "I forgot my bra". Needless to say, I did not hear the rest of the sermon. I was jsut glad she didn’t’ say it very loud.

Feb 2, 2009
Mom threw up this morning, and I later found that she had thrown up in bed, possibly in her sleep. I decided to stay home with her, as she was not keeping any food down.
She would not sit down or rest. She was up and moving all over, wanting to go to town, to church, etc. Deanna came and showered her, and was loading some laundry to do for me, when we realized mom was outside. In the car. She would not come in so I drove her around the block thinkign that would help..................Deanna left and I settled in to do a few things..........only to find mom in the car again with Merci...and her Bible....... so I grabbed Gracie and the keys and we went to church. That is where mom wanted to go.........we got there and and she went and sat in the sanctuary for about 5 minutes, and the dogs ran around the fellowship hall. Then I said lets go home, and mom sadi okay, and we came home. I fed her a cup of broth for lunch, and now she is resting in her recliner. I think I will go takea nap. :)


These are all I have recorded in this one place. the other thigns are ina notebook, of which I ahve to locate since I laid it somewhere while cleaning :).

Some days can be very stressful, but after the day I had today, May 18th, 2009, with her, I can handle the stresses. Today was a GREAT Blessing.