Haven't ben around for a while.

[del]

Just wanted to pop in for a minute and say hi. I haven't been able to be online much lately .  Things have been pretty hectic at home and at work. We are both doing fine but hubby's mom hasn't been doing well and we have been spending a lot of time with her. She has been totally confused lately(basically gone back to her childhood).  We have been thinking that she had alzhiemer's but hubby and his sister took her back to the doc yesterday to get the results of her tests she had done and apparently she has a really bad water infection and that could be what is causing all the confusion (I hope so anyway). She has been very difficult to deal with with all the confusion. Besides working all day we have been spending the evening at hubby's sister's trying to help her with caring for her.  Hubby has been having a really difficult time dealing with his mom losing touch with reality. Hopefully with the antibiotics we will soon see a difference in her behavior.  I'll try to check in whenever I can.

[Rerun]

Thanks for checking in Del.  Best wishes for your family right now.  It can be a rough time.

                     

[Jean]

Good to see you Del. Hope Mom improves more every day. It's tough enough to lose your Mom physically, let alone mentally. Guess that is every ones worst nightmare. 

[okarol]

Hey Del,
I hope the antibiotics help. So sorry for your hubby, it's hard to watch parents struggle. Best wishes to your family - HUGS too.

[galvo]

Good on ya, Del! I hope things improve.

[Romona]

Hi Del. Hope things get easier for you.

[monrein]

Sorry to hear about your MIL, Del and I hope things get easier soon.   Also hope that you and Walt will be having some nice spring weather to enjoy.

[Darthvadar]

Hi Del....

Good to see you.....

Dougal sends love and licks!....

Darth....

[billybags]

Del lovely to hear from you, sorry to hear about your mother in-law. I can remember when my mum was the same, it is scary, she had a water infection and it was awful, we had to have her live with us for 2 weeks, as you say it  affects the  mind for what ever reason.The doctor put her on to antibiotics and she was fine after a week. Keep coming back and let us know how you are doing.

[paris]

Good to hear from you, Del   

[Zach]

 

[del]

Just popping in to give a bit of an update.  Hubby's mom does have alzheimer's or some form of dementia. She has gone downhill very fast in the past couple of weeks. She can't dress herself now. Can't even do up buttons on her clothes. She is in hospital now because hubby's sister is unable to care for her at home anymore. She started wandering a lot more and became aggressive and violent (she as always a very quiet woman). We are waiting for her to be placed in a nursing home.  That is a problem because she has become a wanderer and the people who make the decisions are saying she needs to be in a protective care unit for alzheimer's patients. At the hosp[ital she is "specialed" which means she has one on one care 24 hours a day.  There are only 4 of those units in Newfoundland!!  Most are full.  3 are within a 2 1/2 hour drive from us but the other one is a 6 hour drive.  We are hoping she will be placed close to us.  The social worker is supposed to make some calls on Monday and explain our situation to the people who make the decisions for placement. He is going to explain that hubby is a dialysis patient and his sister has a developmentally delayed daughter who she has to care for.  hey are the only 2 children and neither are able to travel very far.  She will stay in hospital until she is placed somewhere.   

[cariad]

Hoping for peace for you and your family, Del. Thanks for the update.

[monrein]

Nice to hear from you here Del although of course I'm sorry to hear about Walt's Mum.  I really hope that the social worker can work some magic and get a spot close to the family.  It's so difficult with dementia and having always to remember that the behaviours are the illness and not the person herself.  Hope everything is good with you and Walt and that you guys have a great summer. 
My sister-in-law (donor) and the kids arrive here at the end of June and the kids will stay for a month but Kathy has planned a trip by herself to...yep Newfoundland.  Not sure how long she'll be there but she loves your corner of the world after going there for a wedding a few years back.  She vowed to return for further exploration and this is it.
Hugs to you both.

[Jean]

Hi Del,
Glad you stopped in to say hi and give us an update on your MIL. This Alzheimers, or dementia. is one horrible disease. My dear friend has started on with it and lives alone. Her 4 kids, seem to not be noticing too much of this some how, but soon will. It is really hard to keep patience with her and I am sure you are experiencing the same thing. God Bless you girl, you are gonna need it. Hope she is placed reasonably near you.

[del]

Walt only has one sister and she is in denial abut all this.  She was going to take her mother home.  She runs a corner store 15 hours a day and the most help she would get would be 6 hrs a day from a home care worker. I think the social worker and the doctor spoke to her and told her that she would not be able to do it (she would not listen to walt).  She has not been very helpful in this whole process. Her mother was living with her after we said we couldn't look after her in January. When she had to go to the hospital 2 weeks ago everything fell back on our shoulders again.  The hospital she is in is about a 30 minute drive from us. We have been to visit her everyday and Walt's sister has gone to see her maybe 4 times in the 2 weeks she has been there!!  Walt has had to be the one to sign all the paperwork as well.  She is making Walt fel realy bad about all this. She was even going to bring her mother home this weekend for the weekend with no home care at all.  We talked to the doctor and he did not reccommend changing her surroundings. She has really calmed down and this could really have upset her.  The doc talked to her as well and she didn't bring her mom home!!

[monrein]

Thank goodness the doctors are in the middle now.  The family complications are sometimes worse than the illness itself. 

[del]

I still have not been around a lot but things are starting to look a little brighter. Walt's mom was finally admitted to a nursing home yesterday about 30 mins drive from us!!  She spent 6 weeks in hospital and then 2 weeks in the nursing home on a trial basis.  She has done really well at the home.  There are still family issues though and I guess there always will be!!  The 2 of us were left totally responsible for everything!!

I am finished school for the year and I have next year off work. I am going on deferred salary leave.  For 3 years I paid into a trust fund so that I would get paid the 4th year and not have to work.  I go back to work in Sept, 2011 and may only work that 1 year before I retire!!  I have been really busy doing work in my garden lately. I neglected t a lot in the past few months.  I have bags of weeds sitting in my driveway!!  Too bad its not the stuff you can smoke.