Mother can no longer move on her own, though she can still shuffle when we hold on to her. If she tries too get up on her own early in the morning or when we are momentarily glancing away, she falls. Her shuffles continue to grow tinier, and her balance is non-existent.
It looks like we will need to arrange an additional caregiver from sometime after midnight until around 7:00 AM. We very much want to keep her in her apartment with the things she knows and the familiar people in her wider environment. Will this ultimately be possible? I am not sure.
This morning the nurses looked in on her around 5:00 AM and she was sleeping in bed, but by 7:00 she was sprawled on the floor. The apartment is well secured so most places where she could have tripped or hit her head are removed or padded.
Upon receiving a telephone call, the two of us rushed over to her apartment before going to work. No injuries, not even a bruise, but Mother is frustrated, angry, and depressed, and she frequently lashes out. I would feel that way, too. After the fall she had difficulty moving the spoon between the food and her mouth, but this improved by lunch time.
Toward the afternoon she was as disoriented as we’ve ever seen her and her breathing was in short gasps. I spent the afternoon with her to get an idea of what happens.
A lot still goes on in her head. The other day I intentionally used some incorrect grammar, and she corrected me without missing a beat. Being a well-behaved adult child, I feigned ignorance and she was delighted to correct me. A good test, I think.
As Our Parents Age So Do We 