Follow
Share

There are probably already threads with similar content, but here I go!


Let me set this up. Stay with me. I'm going somewhere with this!


Mom is in memory care. I try to empower her by making sure she has a little cash on hand at all times. Why? Every week, friends from church kindly pick her up for Sunday services (I live 4 hours away), and Mom likes to put money in the offering plate. Sometimes they go out for lunch afterwards; therefore the cash. I don't give her a whole lot; just a handful of small bills to make her feel "rich." I also furnished her with a phone, but she rarely places a call. I think she's forgetting how.


Last week Mom managed to sort out the phone well enough to call me up. A few days prior I'd mailed her a small packet of personal items. It cost me $6.


Me: "Oh, hi Mom. How are you?"


Mom: "Why did you mail me this stuff? You should have brought it with you the next time you visit! It's too expensive! "


Me: "It's going to be a couple of weeks before I get back down there Mom. You needed those things right away."


Mom: "Well! I have to watch MY pennies around here, don't you?"


Me: "Okay Mom. I was just trying to make sure you had what you need."


Mom: "You should be more careful with your money! (Brief pause) I have to go, now."


Me: "Okay Mom, goodbye."


I hang up. Three minutes later the phone rings:


Mom: "Hello. Uh......." (can't remember my name).


Me: "Hi, Mom. What's up?"


Mom: "I called to tell you I can't find my cash! The people that work here stole it!"

This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Find Care & Housing
Aww that's so funny!

Went to see my Grandma one time and asked her how she was, what's new. She replied "a really sexy man washed my backside yesterday!"
I almost fell over! This Grandma of mine was always the properest little old English lady you can imagine! Now, boy, the filters are off!
Helpful Answer (4)
Report

My father was in assisted living for a few months when he complained to me "They expect you to CHANGE your clothing EVERY day!". The horror!!!
Helpful Answer (9)
Report

My father doesn't talk much anymore, except, maybe one or two words. I never knew why, but he always eats with a spoon, never a fork. We were sitting at the table together. He, with his spoon & me, with my fork and he stopped eating & stared at me. Then, he proceeded to say, "If you used a spoon, you could get more." I thought I would fall off the chair laughing. I guess, that's why he always uses a spoon.
Helpful Answer (8)
Report
Rosses003 Feb 2019
Well, even though he doesn’t talk much, he thought that was definitely knowledge worth passing along!
We would definitely get more with the spoon! Lol
(2)
Report
My dear mom has trouble hearing and doesn’t wear her hearing aid because it bothers her, so I have programmed myself to repeat everything more than once and to speak very loud - I’m normally soft spoken-.

So, one day I’m in her bedroom’s bathroom washing my hands and I tell her: Mom, let’s make sure to tell Mr. so and so to fix the sink and the toilet seat tomorrow, and I’ll go with him to get the cement before he starts working in the morning.

To which my mom responds: “I know! I don’t see the link either (my ‘sink’ her ‘link’), I think they need to seat to talk tomorrow or they’ll go on longer without getting their consent (my ‘cement’ her ‘consent’). I’ll check the news in the morning.”

My mom keeps up actively with the news (she is very bright intellectually) hence she thought I was talking about something we were following part of the international news.

Did I correct her? Nope. I just turned around and we kept talking about the news. Sometimes, it is just not worth it!! Plus and more than anything, I don’t like to make her feel bad. I admit it is tiring to speak so loud and repeat every thing I say twice or more, but it must be more tiring to feel you cannot participate in a normal conversation because you miss half of it! So, I will just keep repeating....or what I’ve been doing lately too, helping myself with gestures to make myself understood. I think I might be creating a new -and more user friendly- Sign Language! 😓 😆
Helpful Answer (2)
Report
PJsummer Feb 2019
Thanks for your post. That sounds like some of the conversations with my mother. When it first started, I questioned myself but soon realized I was fine. Now I try to figure out what she means and continue the conversation with her.
(2)
Report
See 1 more reply
My almost 90 yr old dad has hallucinations and always sees horses out in the distance. One day he said “suzi-see the horses. You see the horses! Pointing to the roof of a building across the parking lot. I said “0h Dad-there are no horses. How would they get up on the roof? “ To which he replied, very matter of factly- “Guess they take the ramp”. Told me!
Helpful Answer (7)
Report

Every Christmas evening the woman in our family go see a movie. We try to see one the men wouldn’t want to see. At the end of one of the movies, a man sitting in front of us said, “That was definitely a chick flick.” My mother said, “I agree with him. That movie was just like chicken wings. Sometimes they’re good and sometimes they’re not.”
We’re still shaking our heads from that one.
Helpful Answer (6)
Report

My mom made up stories of us running a PROSTITUTION RING, SEX TRAFFICKING and paying Dog the Bounty Hunter a $250 Regitrstion Fee and that’s why we didn’t have Halloween kids. —- Estranged relative took mom to Sheriff’s Office AND City Police and filed a report. Ohhh. Good fun...especially since the Detective undiagnosed mom’s dementia without knowing what a SLUMS test is. She’s cured!!! All the Dr’s, Home Health, the Hospital..all wrong! The detective cured her within 30 minutes of talking to her. Mom no longer has dementia according to Detective Freud! 19/30 SLUMS last February but he diagnosed her as being “fine to me” and VERY AGGRESSIVELY assured me that my mom doesn’t have dementia because he’s “familier with it”. Good fun. Good fun.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

While still at home, even though I had been helping my husband dress and groom for a while, one morning I was drinking coffee and in he walks, ready for the day in MY black leopard pants and silver touchdowns tailgates #traditions tee! The worst part was he’s lost so much weight that the pants fit! 😉 Too cute!
Helpful Answer (6)
Report

My late husband, shortly after his stroke which gave him dementia talked about watching the train outside his hospital window and all the passengers getting on and off it- hanging on the outside the train. There also was no train station anywhere near the hospital.
These days my mum is very concerned about the people cutting down and burning all the trees by her independent living apartment and making a lake.
I am so glad she is in a seniors complex. She moved in in June and They’ve already noted that she has issues, they have a assisted living area and a memory care area attached. I wanted her to go to AL in June but my brother and wife said no she’s fine.
Guess she wasn’t telling them of her neighbors tunneling towards her house at night.
Helpful Answer (4)
Report

I stayed with my mom while my dad went out of town to visit my sister and family. When he came back she acted like he had never been gone for a while and then she decided he had gone off and was with his "girl friend". The hospice care giver was there and said Miss Gwen why would you think that and she replied without missing a beat "He's a man isn't he". The caregiver and I had to leave the room because we were laughing so hard.
Helpful Answer (2)
Report

I was walking recently with my 91 y.o. mom (dementia), and a little leaf blew along the sidewalk in front of us. My mom said, "Oh, hello!" and waved at it.

It was so cute I almost cried, but so enjoyed sharing a good laugh with her as we tottered along at a snail's pace. Things are so hard most of the time! Laughing was really a moment of grace.
Helpful Answer (6)
Report
CantDance Mar 2019
That is the cutest thing!
(0)
Report
Okay, I am not sure if I should post this but trust me I was never able to forget it! Happened many years ago with my husband's deceased grandmother. It's a topic that is so common among the elderly!

I would take her shopping and out to lunch. I was young and in my 20's, she in her 80's.

Well, we ordered our lunch and the man seated next to us was just served his delicious lunch and commented to the waitress how good it looked. I asked her how she was feeling. I learned never to ask that question in a restaurant ever again. Why do the elderly feel compelled to tell others about bowel movements or lack thereof? Geeeez, the man at the neighboring table was just about to take a bite out of his food and she comes out with a hilarious answer saying, "Oh, I am not feeling to well, I have tightness of the stool!" She has a loud voice and I wanted to crawl under the table. The poor man next to us put his fork down and lost his appetite. Who wants to hear about constipation or diarrhea before eating? haha She had a crazy way of wording things!
Helpful Answer (4)
Report
CantDance Mar 2019
Need Help,

My mom does this too ...telling people about her "loose stools" at the dinner table! Ugh!
(0)
Report
I was helping Mom with lunch today and I must have inadvertently yawned. She asked if I was tired and slept good last night (this was a particularly good day with her). I answered “Yes, I slept like a rock. I actually didn’t even wake up to go to the bathroom.” She asked “Oh, did you wet the bed?” I laughed so hard that the lady out in the hall heard us. It was a good day.
Helpful Answer (4)
Report

Keeping in mind, my Mom is the sweetest person ever. Everyone loves her. Has always seen the good in everyone.  Since she's had dementia. All has changed. Usually Hallmark channel, 24/7 by the way. But one day a news flash came on about a an 'incident'.  I was walking into the living room and she was laughing like crazy. Like a serious laugh. She says "Well, look at that hun. That young man just killed his mom with an ax". Laughing hysterically. I backed out of the room without making eye contact with her. So disturbing. Went back in and changed the channel. Peace was restored. Sorry if too much.
Helpful Answer (3)
Report
Rosses003 Mar 2019
Well, I guess that is what we call dark humor...humor nonetheless! Good for her that she enjoys a good laugh..
(0)
Report
It wasn't too funny at the time because I got a call from mom's facility that she was driving her neighbor nuts, but when I look back it is actually pretty darn funny. Mom was never much of a drinker, and also insulin-dependent diabetic, so alcohol not good for her blood sugar anyway.

Well, one day, she got it in her head that she had to have some wine coolers. She knocked on her neighbor's door (this little sweet mild-mannered grandma) probably at least 20 times that day asking her to go get her some. You would've thought she had a serious drinking problem, but it was just what she happened to be fixated on that particular day, I guess.

Mom recently passed unexpectedly, and I've gone through the roller coaster of emotions, but it's good to think about and remember the lighter, funnier stuff sometimes. Thanks for starting this.
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

My DH with Parkinson's is still pretty sharp, but the other day he went outside with the TV remote in hand. I watched thru the window as he punched just about every button on the remote, only pausing long enough to put it to his ear, I assume listening for a dial tone or a ring or better yet an answer!! LOL!! Since he is an attorney, he has spent most of his life on the phone. Guess he missed not being in touch. He also has hallucinations. The other day I was outside in front of the barn on the paved area. He came up to me and started talking about the numbers and letters he was seeing on the pavement. I just nodded and said uh huh. and let him talk on, moving toward the house, sure about what he was seeing. Have to step back, shut up and just accept what is going on. I have found that trying to confront him with reality is useless and only causes bad feelings for both of us. So hard to deal with after 47 years of being second fiddle to the maestro...
Helpful Answer (1)
Report

This question has been closed for answers. Ask a New Question.
Ask a Question
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter