The ups and downs of Alzheimers

Today was a mixed bag with mum.

She woke up in her usual 'mood' - she comes out the bedroom looking for someone and declares 'she got a fright' , ive come to realise this is because she thinks she is alone when she wakes up and is relieved to see someone in the house.

Then that relief slowly fades when i suggest we get ready to head out, as it can be a battle to do the simplest of tasks. Mum refusing help and simply repeating 'how come' when i say we need to do something. 

I've somehow managed to find a solution to this problem - reaching out to mum's caring side, judge me all you want for what I'm about to write, but it seems to ease mum when she can be quite distressed.

A couple of weeks ago when i wrote about me breaking down in tears and mum comforting me, it happened again the following week when asking mum to get dressed. I suppose there was a mix of frustration and not undestanding why she is fighting to just get dressed and I again cried whilst asking her why she wont just get dressed so we can head out. She looked at me hugged me and stroked my face so i asked if she will let me help her and she said yes. I guess with mum losing control of so much she maybe still needs to feel like she is helping someone and not constantly being the one needing the help. If all I need to do is to 'pretend to cry' to make mum more calm and want ro comfort me and in turn i can help her easier then thats what i'll keep doing.

The next surprise was when asking mum today what she wanted for dinner she replied 'I don't know' so I asked her if she could have one thing in the whole world (still meaning dinner) she looked at me and said 'to have everyone around me' 

It can be quite surprising to hear mum speak like this as it can be a struggle to get a conversation out of her let alone her opening up to you. Hopefully thay makes sense. 

Then we have the next surprise of the day was when mum woke up from a wee nap and was a bit distressed and declared she was late for work. Probably the first time with me she has portrayed that side of Alzheimer's where she felt the need to be somewhere she hasnt been for a long time and wouldnt be going there anyway. 

But we did finish the day off having some laughs, trying to give dad a fright and mum telling me to beat it and behave 😊 its so good to see her smile and see that we spark return. 

So yeah there was alot of ups and downs today but id take all the downs anyday to get those occasional ups 😀