Knoxville author Laura Mansfield has a book titled Geezer Stories: The Care and Feeding of Old People. I haven’t read it yet, because when I ordered it the other day Helen snatched it up to start reading it ahead of me. (This happens a lot).
But as some of you know, I’ve been dealing with my mother’s dementia, which has progressed pretty rapidly. It comes and goes day to day, and sometimes hour to hour, but the overall trend is clearly downward. A year ago she was driving herself around, keeping her own house, and had just done her own taxes. This year she can’t do any of those things. She’s now in a memory care facility, which she sometimes thinks is a school dormitory (that’s good) and sometimes realizes is what it is, which isn’t so good.
I visit her and take her out to lunch regularly, and she gets visits from my siblings and her grandkids frequently. (According to the staff, she gets more visits than most of the patients there — my mom sometimes calls them “inmates” in her darker moments — get put together.) But it’s hard on her, and she often wakes up not knowing where she is, and being disoriented in general.
My brother and sister recently came up with what turned out to be a terrific idea. They got a digital picture frame (I think it’s this one) and loaded it up with family pictures. She loves seeing them go by, and will tell you the whole background of each one. (That part of her memory still works, and I think that makes her feel good about herself).
Join the conversation as a VIP Member