(no subject)

[sherryillk]

Another chapter in the saga of my demented Grandmother (is that correct? Since she has dementia, she would be "demented," right?)...

I wish it were as light as her talking to herself in the mirror (she calls her reflection her "old lady friend" and always wants her to come with her to dinner with us). That would be much preferable than today's incident.

So, she's peed on the floor before. That's happened a few times. But today's is yet another step into that side of crazy. I take in the mail and like always, I drop off the junk at the dining room table. Only today, I find a wrapped package there. It's wrapped simply in a glossy flyer, like a makeshift paper envelope to wrap knickknacks and curiously, I pick it up. My Grandmother has a tendency to wrap anything and everything. She would take a couple of cookies, eat one and then find some way to wrap the leftovers. Or she would wrap candy to save for later. She's always been about making sure everything is properly stored away.

So I was thinking she probably got into the candy, or found some crackers or cookies and decided to wrap those. So I open it up, intending to put throw them away because really, who knows where that junk mail flyer has been? Whatever it was holding inside of it could be full of harmful microbes by now. And the ink was probably not good for human consumption either. Anyway, so I open it up.

At first I thought it was some chocolate malt balls. And then I thought it was just chocolate since they weren't all uniform and some slightly misshaped. And that's when I realized what they were.

I'm actually kinda proud at the restraint I showed. I didn't freak out, I didn't immediately drop them in shock or disgust. Because they weren't malt balls or chocolate. They were poop. It was poop balls wrapped in one of those stupid flyers for customized checks. ON THE DINING ROOM TABLE. Finding something like that is grounds for freaking out, don't you think?

But instead, I quickly rushed to the kitchen trash and threw them away. About that time, the smell started to hit me. *sigh* I'm surprised I didn't realize what they were sooner considering.

I then washed my hands very thoroughly with antibacterial soap (never minding what Diana says about it being bad -- if there ever was an instance where I needed the antibacterial aspect more than today, I do not recall) and now I'm going to disinfect the dining room table as well.

This also begs the question -- where did she poop them out? I walked the house and couldn't find any wet spots. Or dirty ones. Where did she poop them out? When did she do this? Is there somewhere in the house where she's been going to the bathroom on? That's not the toilet, I mean? o.O

Life with her just keeps on getting better and better...

Comments

[muscatlove.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry you have to deal with this all day - one of my coworkers is doing a degree in Alzheimer's gerontology in preparation for dealing with her own aging mother, and my mom manages a big nursing home so I hear a lot of stories about these kind of issues. I don't know if it helps, but my mom is also a trained incontinence/colostomy nurse and is always willing to answer questions for people, if there is any advice or other support that would be helpful and anonymous. I know one thing that helps some people is to put the person in something that is really hard to get out of on your own (like a one-piece swimsuit or a jumpsuit that unzips in the back) combined with adult diapers, and then physically leading the person to the bathroom every hour or so.. I don't mean to give advice if you have already heard it all, just wanted to say I sympathize. :(

[sherryillk.livejournal.com]

No, it's all good. Any advice is greatly appreciated since we're at our wits' end dealing with her. We can't put her in a nursing home since we're afraid she'll just give up all hope and pass away if she's not with us. And there's also the problem that she's slightly xenophobic (though she doesn't remember it half the time now anyway) and doesn't speak any English. And she won't eat anything unless it's with her family around and if it's Chinese food so it's doubtful we can find a good place here in Oregon.