Happenings....

around our house. For those readers who haven't gone waaay back to my first posts, you may not know that my hubby's mother has lived with us (one of the MAJOR reason's I felt the need to start writing, stress relief)for 2 years now. She was diagnosed about 6 yrs ago w/ Frontal Temporal Dementia. While I try and respect her & her condition by not telling all the frustrations, annoyances & plain ole I can't take it/her anymore type stories. I thought I should write a bit of my life lately. That's why I have this blog, to write it out & let it go.

The whole caregiver, family aspect of this is like the warring Capulets & Montagues. We love GP, but this sickness makes it almost unbearable to live w/ her. Some of the newest "annoyances" seem to be uncontrollable crying, following us around wherever we go & of course not being able to understand what she's trying to tell us.

About Christmas time GP forgot where the bathroom was, so we now have to take her there each & every time she acts antsy or starts wandering aimlessly. We found out the hard way that her BM's were on a very early morning schedule (say around 5 a.m.). After waking up 2 mornings w/ some major cleanup to do we decided we would have to take turns doing "watch (is. Sleeping on the couch so we could here her get up).

I don't want to sound all negative & whiney. Let's just say I'm training the girlies on how to take care of me & the hubs when we are old & decrepit.

Not that there are no upsides on this insane trip.....
Yesterday morning we were in the living room. GP was doing her usual pacing, moving things & making baby noises @ the girlies. She walks up to the wall where the girlies school pictures are hung. She stands facing them & says, "do u want some?" & when they don't answer her she says to them, "don't u like me?". Now given the fact that GP hasn't had good speech for about 4 yrs now , when something like this happens it's kind of noteworthy!! I say, "GP who r u talking to?". She turns way from the wall & says "I don't know". I said that they were pictures & they won't answer you, when she starts laughing & walks away.

The girlies never even knew what happened. They are pretty clueless when it comes to GP's blunders. The only time they REALLY take notice is when she gets in front of their cartoon or picks up a toy they are playing with.

That my friends is just the tipitty tip of our big iceberg. We slip down the slippery slope into insanity a little more each month, week & day! It's not what we would have chosen for GP or anyone, but it's where we are right now. In our house we don't talk much about sanity.....SANE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD! We revel in our insanity!

Blessings to all who have to deal with family members who are ill. Wether you are the day to day caregivers or not it's a lot to have on your proverbial plate!

A HUGE thanks go out to Aunt Linda (Patty's sister) & the wonderful caregivers that help us with GP's care! Without you, this momma would have been in the asylum a lot sooner!