If my last group of posts look like they were suddenly interrupted it is because they were. The situation with Gerry, Zoe's mom, has gotten worse. Her Alzheimer's is more than memory related, it's also affecting her physically. We've done about all we can physically and emotionally do. We have an MRI for her scheduled next week. Her doctor wants to make sure that the brain/spinal fluid isn't causing some of her problems with higher than normal pressure. She no longer remembers that she has a son. She has it in her mind that she has to go back home to Connecticut, that she doesn't live here. (She and her husband Ray moved out here 12 years ago. Ray died almost 6 years ago.) She says that her parents and children are back there. She has been going through her drawers throwing things out and putting things in bags that she takes out to the car. We bring them back in later. More and more she becomes agitated when I give her meds. She, in her reality, knows that she has already taken them and thinks we are trying to kill her. When dealing with an Alzheimer's patient it's important to go along with their reality. It's very hard to do sometime. When she refused to take her meds and accused us trying to kill her, we finally backed off. An hour later she looked at her pill box and asked if she was supposed to take them. And she did. In the last few days she will ask me where that Gordy guy is. She thinks sometimes that Zoe is two people. Probably because Gerry has always called her Jonni, which Zoe doesn't like. More and more I refer to Zoe as Jonni when I'm talking to Gerry. After Gerry's MRI, and the results, we will be looking for a home for Gerry. Zoe and I are both worn out. Postings will be a little light for awhile. I still hope to post but just not so many items.

It also doesn't help that my brother just put my mother in an assisted living home. She is declining, too. Saturday night my siblings and I gather to split up her things that she couldn't take with her, which is most of her stuff. Sad times.