Mom has been dealing with her cognitive changes roughly the same since they began– some things she has figured out how to deal with via her new brain in better, more coherent ways, but in general she has a way of doing them more or less that started when her brain took the hit a few years back. What has done a lot of changing is how I interact with these problems, this post only scratching the very surface.
December 10, 2016
Mom gets up before I do, leaves the apartment in her pj’s wandering down the hall common areas, December 2014.
My response: Oh, my God, I hope nobody saw her. This is a serious problem, how do I deal with this? I know, I’ll get a lock on the door that I can click overnight… Wait, no. What if there’s a fire? This is not good. For now, I’ll set up a large bag of empty pop cans that she would have to knock over if she left, even with my bad ears that should work. Maybe I’ll get a latch I can install that isn’t dangerous in case of fire? Hmmm….
Mom gets up before I do, last week, leaving the apartment in her pj’s with her walker down the hall.
My response: Haha! Mom got up and snuck out without my noticing. Good for her! She hasn’t done that in months. Clearly she has a lot of energy today, how can I think of something we can do together that can channel that energy? She is looking to find something new, she’s clearly getting bored. I wish the weather was better, I’d just take her to the lake. “Hey Mom, let’s get you some breakfast, okay?”