Sunday morning began with another challenge. I keep my iPad beside me at my desk in the kitchen. It is connected to a camera in the bedroom. About 8:45, I noticed that that she was sitting on the floor beside the bed. When I reached her, I found that she was relaxed and fine. She apparently had slipped out of bed while sleeping. (Recently, she has been moving around on the bed a good bit. When she gets in bed, her head and shoulders are in the right place, but her feet often hang over the edge. I move her legs over, but she invariably moves them back. I have been concerned about her falling out and have ordered a bed rail that is supposed to be delivered today.)
I immediately recalled her fall several weeks ago. That one required my calling 911 to help get her up. This time she was in a better position, sitting up with her back against the bed. It was easier but took 20-30 minutes. I put an ottoman in front of her. With a lot of coaching, I got her to put her arms across the top of it. Then with my arms under her arm pits I lifted her while she got her legs in position to stand.
I was able to get her to the bathroom and dressed, and we left for lunch about 11:45. Lunch went well, and we got home just before 2:00.
She wanted to rest and did so for almost an hour. Then she started one of her long conversations, much of which I couldn’t understand. It involved some kind of project she was working on. It’s not that I can’t understand many of her words. It’s that she mixes incorrect words and sometimes unintelligible words. The conversation lasted almost an hour and a half.
I finally distracted her by putting her robotic cat in her lap. That entertained her until we began a Zoom call with our son. That went well. As I did on our previous call, I left for 5-10 minutes while she and Kevin talked. I hope to do that in our future calls as well.
It was time for dinner after that, and we got a takeout meal. She was quiet during most of the meal but started talking about a project in which she was working. It involved helping people with something I couldn’t figure out. She was so wrapped up in this that once again, I could not get her interested in changing into her night clothes and going to bed.
I needed to take my shower, and she came into the bathroom twice to get me to come to her and continue our conversation. I told her I would come as soon as I got out.
After my shower, I was still unable to interest her in getting ready for bed.
Around 8:45, I went to her where she was seated on the love seat in the family room. I spoke to her as though our earlier conversation had never occurred. I was cheerful, took a seat beside her, and told her I was going to read a book I thought she would enjoy. She surprised me by sitting down to listen as I read The Velveteen Rabbit. It wasn’t long, however, before she picked up one of her photo books. I told her I would read that as soon as we finished TVR. She reluctantly accepted that.
I had just started reading again when she began to look for something else to amuse her. I got the robotic rabbit. She was interested for a while but then looked for another distraction. I gave up on reading and told her it was time for bed. I told her I was going to the bedroom and invited her to come with me. She said, “I’ll just stay here a while.” As I left the room, she was talking as though another person or group of people were with her. She talked constantly after I left. I went in twice to see if I could get her to come back to the bedroom. She was very calm and said she would just stay there.
Shortly after 10:00, I wasn’t sure how much longer she might stay up talking. I remembered having a partial prescription of Trazadone. She had taken it for several years to help her sleep. With her doctor’s approval, I discontinued that in the spring. I decided to give her half a tablet and went to bed. I set the alarm on my phone for 30 minutes. It went off at 11:00.
I went back to the family room. She was still talking. I told her it was late and asked if she would like to join me in the bedroom. She agreed, and we went to bed without any further complications.
She woke up around 10:00 yesterday morning and seemed fine until I was ready to get her up. She wasn’t ready. I told her I would come back later which I did at 10:45. She was in a good mood and got up with minimal difficulty.
It was still a little early for lunch, so I gave her some apple juice and a slice of cheese toast. She ate only half of it but drank two large glasses of juice. The sitter arrived while we were at the table. It was time for me to leave for Rotary. Kate didn’t seem bothered by the fact that I was leaving. I attributed that to her not knowing me. Neither was she pleased that Cindy had arrived.
When I returned, Cindy told me that Kate didn’t eat the sandwich I had left for her lunch. She just sat there for a long time without engaging in conversation though Cindy tried to get her to agree to go to the family room. After an hour, Kate agreed. Once in the family room, she wanted to rest and was still resting when I got home.
I was able to get her up for dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant. As we left the restaurant, Kate was too frightened to step off the curb to get to the car. Twice, without success, I moved the car to get close to the curb so that it might be easier for her. After ten minutes, we walked back to the restaurant where I asked the owner if he could help me. I got in the car and drove the car close to the curb in front of the restaurant. I was definitely close. The front tire was partially up the curb. Then the restaurant owner and I worked together to help her into the car. That will probably be our last time at that restaurant unless I can get a board to serve as a portable ramp to carry with me.
Kate was tired when we got home and was in bed by 7:30 without our encountering a problem. That was a relief.
Earlier in the day, I sent a message to Kate’s doctor through the patient portal. I described the events of the past week and talked briefly to her nurse who has forwarded the message to the doc. I hope to hear from her today.
