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I asked Christine how she was feeling yesterday. Her mother's dementia leads her to make jokes about how a small gift can be received over and over again. After she admitted she might not be doing well, she said she was finding consolation in her current programming reading. I let it sit there: i can't imagine the slow grieving she and her siblings will be going through as their mother slips away (and oh, how healthy her body is).
In my call with my mom yesterday, she talked about about not being able to remember a word for half a day (flax). Her talking tends towards stream of consciousness, and this was a digression in the context of my father's changes for the better as he has been at home more (and letting go of worries about his job). I know from previous conversations she thinks she's going to have Alzheimer's. Yesterday she shared this "symptom" and that she was trying not to worry or dwell on it. But knowing her, she's building up in her mind a story of mental faculties failing.
One of her great aunts had Alzheimer's, another lived to a very old age without mental failings, and her own mother was sharp up to her death due to complications (heart attack) from diabetes. Mom's latched on to Alzheimer's. Part of that is due to the fear of depending on my Dad for care, i think. Sometimes i feel it's also a sort of strange dynamic in interplay with my mother-in-law's health. There's something oddly manipulative about this, particularly compared to how very very little she shared about her actual health problems with ulcerative colitis. Does she want some declaration of willingness to return and care for her from me?
In my call with my mom yesterday, she talked about about not being able to remember a word for half a day (flax). Her talking tends towards stream of consciousness, and this was a digression in the context of my father's changes for the better as he has been at home more (and letting go of worries about his job). I know from previous conversations she thinks she's going to have Alzheimer's. Yesterday she shared this "symptom" and that she was trying not to worry or dwell on it. But knowing her, she's building up in her mind a story of mental faculties failing.
One of her great aunts had Alzheimer's, another lived to a very old age without mental failings, and her own mother was sharp up to her death due to complications (heart attack) from diabetes. Mom's latched on to Alzheimer's. Part of that is due to the fear of depending on my Dad for care, i think. Sometimes i feel it's also a sort of strange dynamic in interplay with my mother-in-law's health. There's something oddly manipulative about this, particularly compared to how very very little she shared about her actual health problems with ulcerative colitis. Does she want some declaration of willingness to return and care for her from me?
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