Of course they weren't her
glasses, and I don't know whether they do anything, pro or con, for her
vision, but she was happy to have "her" glasses on. I also notice that
her eyes, which have been red lately as she rubs them, seem to be fine now,
so who am I to complain? At least she was wearing her own clothes this
time.
She didn't know where she was going....or
why....despite several explanations, but what else is new?
Going into the exam room was silly, since
Anne, Dr. Akanda's nurse was helping my mother while I was struggling to get
out of the chair I was sitting in (Walt finally helped me).
We had our pre-exam meeting with Anne who
then gave my mother a gown to put on, which she couldn't understand at all.
As Anne was leaving the room, she was struggling to get the gown over her
shirt. I stopped her and told her she had to take her shirt off first,
but that was too complicated for her to process and she continued to put it
on over her shirt. I started to get to my feet to help her, but my
knees wouldn't work.
Talk about the blind leading the blind!
We did finally get the shirt off and
the gown on (though with how little "hands-on" the exam was, it really was
unnecessary). And now the annual exam for her 99th year has taken
place. Next time she has an annual exam it will be just before her
100th birthday. The sad thing about that was how excited she was for
several years at the prospect of making it to 100 and now it doesn't even
rate a blip on her awareness meter. If you tell her she's about to be
100, she just says she refuses to be that old.
She'll be 99 in just under 2 months.
Hard to believe.
You can tell how much her ability to read has
been compromised by her Alzheimers. There was a brochure across from
where she was sitting. It said "Everyone deserves a safe
relationship." She struggled to read "everyone deserves a safe..." but
"relationship" was too long a word for her to read. Sigh...this is the
woman who was an avid reader all of her life and was proud of reading two
newspapers, back to back, every morning. :(
So we have now done annual exam for her and
for me, physical therapy for me, neurology and dental exam for me, and
upcoming dental exam for Walt and eye exam for me. We may be good to
go for the next year!
I'd like to say that it was an otherwise
quiet afternoon, but it was anything but. There was a point where I
was sure that there was going to be a hammer smashing through the wall
of my office. And Walt had to remove things from the walls for fear of
them being knocked off. We are having the siding replaced on the house
and, ultimately, the house repainted.
There was so much pounding and other noises
that even Polly decided it was useless to bark and just fell asleep.
But there was much productivity going on and
they got a good start on the house.
When they are finished it will be like having a whole new house, but there is much more pounding to go before the job is completed.
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| Their afternoon nap |
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