Sweet Danielle. She took John shopping yesterday so he could get me a Valentine’s Day card. He chose a perfect one too. He signed it in an unusual way though. Just his initials. And they were large, and kinda shaky.
Yesterday Danielle and I did a Virtual Dementia Tour. The intent is to get an idea of what it is like to have dementia, especially for the elderly. They give you a few items to wear - plastic insoles in your shoes with raised portions so your feet feel like they have neuropathy, gloves on your hands - one of which is inside out - so you lose dexterity, weird glasses on your eyes so you see like a person with various vision problems, and headphones so you hear distorted and distracting sounds. Then they ask you to enter a room and complete 5 simple tasks. My tasks were clearing a table, matching pairs of socks, putting a belt on pants, putting on a tie, and ... oops I can’t remember the 5th thing! Anyway, it was interesting to struggle with simple tasks and try to remember what I was supposed to do. I got feedback from the guy who was with me - - I said “Shit!” while I was in there! I thought I was quiet! The experience did give me a little better understanding of what life is like for John and my mom. Hopefully that will translate into a little more patience on my part!
I spent way too much time trying to get an annuity tax form for my mom today. It never came in the mail because they don’t have her new address, which is my address. I had to call when I was with her so she could authorize that I could speak for her. Still, I need to send an updated address form so I don’t have the same problem next year, but it needs to be notarized. That might be difficult because I’m not sure if my mom can still sign her name. Plus it costs money and is a pain. So I’m also trying to figure out where to send a POA that authorizes me to act on her behalf. A couple calls later, I still don’t have an address for that. Now it’s a holiday weekend so I’ll pick up that battle again next week. One of those problems that keeps on giving.
I had my mom sit on a lazy boy chair in her room that’s in the sun. She really likes that. And I brought her new slippers because her ankles and feet are swollen from sitting all the time so her shoes are tight. Her old slippers are MIA apparently. And I fed her a muffin and Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies with milk.
Meanwhile John keeps washing his hands over and over again. He thinks they’re sticky. I think they’re dry from the weather and the heater, and all the hand washing makes them even dryer, making the problem that much worse. Then he can’t figure out where to dry them because the hand towels are wet from him using them so much. Argh!
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