Where Is My Mother?

Mom is getting more combative of late. She is not sleeping—walking the floor at night and sometimes her aide is startled awake to find my mother at the foot of her bed—fully dressed and ready to go. Either she’s going to work, going to Brooklyn (where her mother, brother and sister-in-law once lived, or she’s just looking for her mother).

We worry that the aides will not be able to handle her anymore and that we will be without people to stay with her 24/7. Then what? We don’t even want to think about it. One of the aides is frightened of my mother and so we’ve cut her workload down to 1 day. She is good companionship—just not a leader.

It’s funny, when we told the doctor that my mother was getting unruly, she automatically suggested a drug to calm her down. We brushed this off right away. “She’s taking way too much medication already—we’ll try to work this out.” The doctor gave us a “suit yourself” shrug and moved on to the next topic. A month later we were ready to try the drugs. Guess the idea had to grow on us. Funny how things change over time...

Last week my sister called to check in. She said Mom’s medical doctor had called to report that Mom’s potassium level was too high and that she’d need to be restricted to no more than 2 bananas a week. Oh, Oh….this is going to be yet another fight. She loves bananas and eats a couple a day, but somehow one of her medications is raising her potassium level so the bananas (which are a good source of potassium) have to go.

My sister called my mother to tell her that she had to cut her banana intake
My mother listened and then after a long sigh said “OK, that’s it!!! I’m getting my own place.” “You’re in your own place, Mom”, my sister said. “I am?” said my mother in wonderment.

Gosh, I wonder where she thinks she is?