My Mother's Journey With Dementia

Christmas Nutcracker

I went out to lunch with a girlfriend of mine this week.  I was updating her as to what was happening with my mother, and her journey with Dementia.  She mentioned going out shopping, and since it seemed my mother had issues with shopping last year.  We decided maybe we will invite her along to help her this year.

I told my friend about our medicine delivery service that we had setup for her, and it seemed to be working well.  I mentioned that my brother and I were pushing for some home care for her, and had an interview in which my mother refused the service.  We have plans!  I will write about that experience later I promise!

I did get a call this week from her doctor stating that her thyroid levels again are NOT what they need to be.  I'm sure they felt it was her NOT taking the medicine, but since I know she is?  I asked them to look into maybe the medication at this point isn't doing what it needs to do.  I'm planning on calling the Pharmacy on Monday just to be sure they also are NOT getting FULL containers back.  I have seen her take the medicine, but with dementia?  You need to double check everything.

I was speaking to my mother about Christmas this year.  I told her to make a list of her wants or needs.  She - as she has for years now - told me she didn't have any.  She has said that even prior to her diagnoses of dementia.  This is a norm for her.  I think when I go over this week I will bring sales flyers, and she what she comments on!  That has always been my trick!

Medicine organizer

My mother's doctor office called me about a month ago, because they were concerned about her thyroid levels.   They were concerned that she was not taking her medicine on a regular basis, and asked for me to check up on her.

We all know that memory loss is part of the dementia process, and I made sure mother's medicine was up to date.  My next move was to figure out HOW I was going to make this process even easier for her.

I started by calling the local mom and pop pharmacies in the area.  I had heard about a service smaller pharmacies had for their clients with dementia like my mother.  They come to the house once a week with those Sunday - Saturday pill boxes. They actually 'prefill' the weekly boxes, and when a refill is needed they take care of that as well.  I found one close to my mother's house that was willing to do this.  She would no longer have to keep up with her medicines, nor have to worry about refills.