Mom has been tested for Alzheimer’s at
least twice. We’ve been told that she
doesn’t have it. But she does have some form of dementia. A distorted memory loss. Some days she’s been there, others she has
not. For the most part it seems she’s
been elsewhere – first on exotic vacations and then sharing her childhood and
teenage years in San Francisco. She
just didn’t seem to be anywhere today.
She was just finishing the dishes when
she let me inside. I greeted her and
asked if she had taken her blood. She
had to process the information as she always does when I ask the question. She said she hadn’t. I then asked her if she’d eaten
breakfast. She said she had. And so I told her that we’d have to wait in
order to get a proper reading. She
looked at me with childish eyes and confessed that she had forgotten how.
She said that she needed to go to the
store. She said that she wanted to
purchase some cough drops – a large bag of them. I took her to Sam’s Club as they sell items in
bulk and would have more cough drops offered in their packaging than the
regular stores.
The mail usually doesn’t come until I’m
just about to leave – or when I’m pulling out of the driveway. But today it was early. Very early.
I guess because of having had off Veteran’s Day yesterday? What a boatload of mail, too.
Mom dismissed herself to go to the
bathroom, and I hurriedly fingered through the mail and pulled out mail from
various charities and Capitol One and set them aside to go through later to
make certain it really was all junk. It
was.
Corey received five pieces of
mail. I’m certain that two of those
could have been trashed as well. But mom
insisted he needed it all and we ended up going to the post office as she’d put
it all in a large manila envelope. Note
to self: make up labels to give to mom
so that she can just forward Corey’s mail without having to pay for it. Even after I show her, she could still forget
why she has all these labels with Corey’s name and address.
We drove passed the school that my
sibs and I had all attended. Mom says, “There
is the school that I went to . . . that’s probably the same one that you went
to.”
“Yes.
I went to that school.” She didn’t. Not as a student anyway. It wasn’t even built until 35 years after she
was born.
We were going through Taboo cards trying to get each other to guess the words on our cards. I explained how to play it a few times. Each time she would answer the phone I would have to re-explain.
One of the calls that she received was from Liberty Mutual. According to her, they call on a weekly basis. It is never a human being. It is always a machine asking to press this number or that number. Why doesn't she just hang up on them? What is Liberty Mutual thinking to have a machine call their clients? How many of those clients are capable of pushing the correct numbered button?
Mom showed me her supply that came from Liberty Mutual. She's set for a while. They don't need to call every day or every week or every month. She's good. Seriously. She isn't in the right frame of mind or patience to be pushing buttons.
We finished the puzzle book that she
and Kayla had started. And so we left
the house again to purchase some puzzle book replacements. They seem to be
helping.
We had started the third puzzle when I
excused myself to return home. She
seemed disappointed. But expressed
gratitude for having had come. I needed that.
I want my mom back.
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