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melting but not down

Sunday 25 January 2009

stroppy Saturday

Mum was in a furious mood yesterday morning. As soon as I arrived she launched into a tirade against me, precipitated by a letter she'd received from the Sensory Loss team. She'd got it into her head that I had written to them and because their address included the town where my cousin lives, thought we were conspiring to get her into a care home because his mother is in one. No amount of my repeating that the social worker had made the referral, not I, to see if they could help her with her deafness, eg provide an amplified telephone, could convince her that I did not have some heinous plot afoot. She denied any memory of social worker's visit and accused me of "trying to make out (she) was potty". She even said she was starting to be afraid of me! She then went into the old "nobody cares" routine, said I didn't have to go round if I didn't want to - she'd manage on her own somehow. I decided to ride out the storm and sure enough, by the time we got to Morrisons, the sun had come out and the letter was forgotten.

I do think she's getting more confused, forgetful and paranoid. Is this the beginning of Alzheimers?

4 comments:

rilera said...

It could be. Paranoia, confusion and loss of short term memory are its hallmarks. Or it could just be that she is frightened of losing her independence and she goes on the defensive by attacking you.

Lily said...

Wise words rilera. I think maybe the latter as she phoned me today, hinting she'd like me to go round and saying she was looking forward to seeing me tomorrow. My nerves are jangling though, especially when the house phone rings. Pass the Prozac!

Marian Dean said...

I think like Rilera, it does sound like the classic symptoms of dementia. The accusations and forgetting visits is typical. You sound a very busy person, and now ill health is threatening to interfere as well. !
A woman's job was never described as easy, and they sure were right.
My Mum ended up very confused and didn't know me in the end, it made me very sad. My Dad popped off very suddenly whilst sitting in his chair watching the birds through his binoculars... lovely way for him to go (at 74) a shock, but preferable to watching Mum slowly decline.
I pray your health improves.
Love Granny (*!*)

Lily said...

Thanks for dropping by Granny but I'm having problems reading your blog - it starts to load then aborts. Any ideas?