A Conflicted Ray of Hope?

Is arguing a positive sign?

Mom has been so passive and confused these past months, but within the past few days she has become argumentative and accusatory. As uncomfortable as it is, I'm wondering if this change in her behavior could be related to increased awareness of her surroundings.

She is very upset that she is unable to drive and that I have her car at my house. I've tried to explain that the Doctor's have restricted her driving because of her medical condition, and that I'm willing to do her grocery shopping and bring her whatever she needs.

I'm not sure if she understands her medical condition or that she's even had surgery to correct it. I'm frustrated that she is resistent to taking the medication she needs to manage her diabetes, high blood pressure and slow her memory deterioration. She repeats that there is nothing wrong with her and thinks that it is "us" that are creating the problems.

Today, she was accusing my husband of being "behind" taking her car away from her. Which is the furthest thing from the truth. In all honesty, I have been the one consulting with Doctors. My husband hasn't consulted with any physicians regarding her care, nor does he have the authority. But it has been the physicians themselves that listen to my reports of her abilities and behaviors and make the determination as to whether she is safe to drive. And honestly, the last time I asked her to come to my house by 2:30pm and she arrived at 4:30pm...not aware of where the time had gone (I spoke with her at 2:00pm and she was "walking out the door"), is just an example of how skewed things had become.

Irregardless, I have to consider that this recent fixation on driving is a sign that her memory is improving slightly, which could lead to further improvement. Which is what we were praying for. Let's hope this is indeed the case, and the improvement continues...and that eventually she WILL be able to drive again.

The Day After...

Thanks everyone. Just got home. What a day.
We had big storms this morning with lots of flooding all around Dallas.
It took me 2 hours just to get into Mom's neighborhood so I could feed her cats.
All the roads surrounding her house were flooded.
I bet I turned around at least a half a dozen times before I found a way in that was safe.

Then I took my laptop to the FedEx store when I was supposed to take it to the UPS store...
After I got that worked out, we got something to eat and sailed on to the hospital.

Mom is pretty confused, and thinks she's ready to go home.
She figures if she can sit in a hospital bed, she can sit on the sofa at home.
She has little concept of the passage of time or even the reason that she is in the hospital.
Some things she can remember ok, others not so much.
She's also dizzy, which makes her a fall risk, and not suitable for release.
She's singularly focused on her cats and doesn't seem satisfied when I assure her that I'm taking good care of them.
They're her "children", and she wants to be with them.
I've tried to tell her she has to take care of herself before she can take care of them, but she doesn't seem to "get it".

The nurses in ICU have been just wonderful.
I applaud everyone who chooses to put up with these difficult people who make such unrealistic (and repetitive) demands of them.
I can assure you, at least in my Mom's case, she doesn't understand what she's doing.

Surgery

Mom's surgery went well.
After it was over, she didn't even realize they'd done it yet!
She's in the ICU right now, but should be moved to a regular room today.

She's still very confused about time, but I did notice slight improvements in simple things.
She has a nice new haircut, and does have some pain.
She worries about taking pain medication...she's afraid of get addicted. LOL

My Sister in Law works in the hospital and checked on her before leaving last night and said she was alert and reading some magazines I left her.

They will be doing a CAT scan this morning to see how much fluid has been drained off in the first 24 hours.
I'll be anxious to hear the Doc's report on this test.

Thanks for all your prayers. I know they are helping.

One day to surgery...

The countdown is on, and I'm anxious and hopeful.
Mom is deteriorating rapidly and she is blissfuly unaware of it.

This past weekend we had a family wedding for her Sister's grandson (her Great-Nephew), and because of her faulty sense of time, she had great difficulty being able to understand what day and time the wedding was. She tried to get ready for the wedding on Friday, but I explained that the wedding was on Sunday, and tried to re-direct her to another task. Then on Sunday, she decided she HAD to do the task I had tried to get her to do on Friday before she could get ready for the wedding...leaving her little time to get ready. It was pretty hectic, and she didn't understand where the time went, but somehow we got there on time. The wedding was beautiful and we had a lovely visit with relatives we don't get to visit with often.

Everything is in place for the surgery. The pending cardiac clearance was received, and now we are now waiting for a call from the anesthesiologist on Tuesday evening before we head to the hospital early Wednesday morning. The surgery itself shouldn't take very long, nor should her hospital stay.

All prayers are welcome and encouraged, both for a safe & successful surgery; and for a positive outcome.

Unfortunatly my laptop got fried this past weekend, so I will be unable to blog, tweet or facebook updates from the hospital, but will post updates as soon as I can.