Bless Your Hearty

October 2, 2010

I took Mom outside on the deck while I worked in my flowerbed.  She asked for her snuggie.  When the sun started getting in her face, I grabbed the first baseball hat I could find—an OU one.  She looked so cute, all ready for OU to beat Texas.  I felt like a mom dressing up her baby in his team outfit for the game.

It’s sad.  We thought she’d recognize her beloved Texas Rangers.  We’ve showed them to her on TV several times.  She stares for a little while, in the back of her mind knowing she’s supposed to pay attention, but she doesn’t really know who they are anymore.  Too bad, since the Rangers have a chance to win the pennant this year.  She would have been so excited!

October 3, 2010

Mom got really mad at Jerry and me this afternoon.  I’d seen her looking at the clock.  They had dinner at 5 p.m. at the Baptist Village, and she usually starts jabbering about food around then.  Shoot!  I never start cooking until after the national news, so we usually eat between 6:30 and 7:00.  This day, she was ready to eat early. 

I left for the grocery store, and it turned into one of those long trips because we were out of everything.  By the time I got home, Mom was starving.  She’d been on Jerry’s case the whole time.  “When are we going to eat?!” 

I fixed a microwaveable roast and mashed potatoes.  She wanted to eat and go to bed.  I was just about ready to put her down when Slade dropped by to see her.  He hugged her neck.  She sat right by him on the couch and babbled her usual questions.  “How are you?”  “Did you eat?”  “Where were you?”  She always loves to see Slade and Cord.

October 4, 2010

Mom woke up in a good mood this morning.  Now, at 5:30 a.m., she had told Jerry she thought she was crazy.  But later, when she got out of bed today, she was pretty happy.  I started to take her cinnamon roll away before she was finished.  “Wait!” she whimpered.  “I wanted that!”

Jerry took care of her this morning while I went to the Y.  He said she knew he was helping her.  She took off for the real toilet in the bathroom to poop, and when he was wiping her, she looked at him, smiled, and said, “Bless your little hearty.”

Later, when Charlene was taking her blood pressure, she said, “That’s my daughter.”  Then she asked me, “You’re my daughter?”  Good job!  “You’re taking care of me here?”  She smiled at me.  It would be so wonderful if she could just remember that much tomorrow or even later today.

October 5, 2010

Mother liked the chili last night.  We ate shortly after 6 p.m. and then she said, “I’d just as soon go to bed.”  She slept today until 9:45.  That’s 15 hours!

        

She ate breakfast, slept, was dressed by Charlene.  We took her to the Baptist Village for lunch to see how she’d do without us.  I told her we’re going to be leaving her there when we go to Colorado for fall break to see our new grandson.

At the center, she listed to us talking about the trip (and her) with Michelle.  We dropped her off at the dining room, where she walked directly to her own seat at table 8 without anyone telling her where to go.  When I told her Jerry and I were going to eat at the Chinese Buffet, she was a little distressed that we didn’t sit down with her.

“Mom, don’t worry.  Your friends are here.  See, there’s Wanza with a Z, there’s Dorothy, and Jodean will probably come. You’ll be fine. “How will I know what to do?”  “We’ll help you,” her tablemates said.  It was hard to leave, even for an hour or so.

When we got back, Michelle told us she kept asking, “Where is he?  Where is he?” until we got back.  Michelle said she walked down the hall and directly to her room without any prompting.  Later, Michelle found her with her walker in the pantry once, and she wondered if Mom was looking for the bathroom.  “Where is he?” 

On the way home in the car, she started questioning us about our trip.  She hadn’t forgotten we were leaving and was filling up with panic.

“Where are you going?”  “Why are you going?”  “When?”  Over and over and over,

Later, I took her out on the deck in the sun for a while.

“I don’t know why,” she said.  “It’s just a shame, but all of a sudden it was just lost.”

“You mean your memory?”

“Yeah, just lost.”

“Yes, you had a stroke, and you forgot every thing.”

“Well, I’m just sorry.  So sorry,” she said, tears in her eyes.

“It’s OK.  You took care of your mama.  She took care of her mama.  I’m taking care of you.  That’s just what we do in our family.”

She shook her head side-to-side.  “Tsk, tsk tsk.”

“Someday Slade or Cord or Amber or Chloe will take care of me.  That’s what family is for.”

She nodded again.

Yeah, that's what family is for...