My mom's dementia hasn't taken any major downturns, but there are noticeable differences from a year ago. She seems more frail, certain things she used to know, like where friends live, are completely gone. We had planned to take a trip to Orlando to visit my cousin in June, but at the last minute I freaked out about it, the hot weather, dealing with traveling with my mom while keeping the kid happy, my generally feeling crappy, and canceled it. Orlando's not going anywhere, and it would be smarter to go when it's not 90 degrees out. The kid took it well and my mom doesn't care — I'm the one feeling guilty and anxious that I'm giving my daughter a crappy summer.
My acupuncturist has also started to teach me tai chi, which I think will really help me too. I know I signed on for a hard job when we moved here, taking on my mom in addition to my daughter. It's just funny (not ha ha) to me that the time of the year when I am least busy, summer, is when the stress finally decided to hit the fan. I guess during the school year I'm too busy to let myself freak out. So this next month and a half, before she starts third grade, I am going to be working hard — on taking it easy.
2 comments:
Sounds like your body and mind are responding to the situation in a perfectly normal way. I'd say "Don't worry about it!" if I thought it'd do any good, but, seriously: normal. As for The Kid ... trust me. Young as she is, she understands what's going on. She can't have missed the signs of things going wrong with her grandmother. Might be some problems later on, when your attention of necessity moves more towards your mother, but ... The Kid will still understand, deep down, as long as you keep her in the loop to the best of your (and her) ability. She's not having a crappy summer, and she won't remember it later as being crappy.--Mario
Thanks, Mario. I know you're right, it's just easier to see it on some days than others. I think (hope) when she looks back on this summer it will be a great one. She has fallen in love with the library and a few series of books and we have been going a lot there. As for me, I'm trying to keep the med on an as needed basis and take it as easy as I can. I think we just naturally reached a bit of a crisis point where the kid has noticed that she can articulate so much better than grandma - it frustrates her. And she's geting a little rebellious, like the sassy kids she watches on TV (and in class, probably), and I'm trying to curb that, too. NO family is perfect, as she'll learn, but I'd like ours to have as smooth a ride as we can, given the circumstances.
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