Miss Cathy seems to have really turned a corner the last few days. Hell, if I really think about it she’s been coming into her own for a while now. Yesterday (and three days ago) she was up early, made her bed, had her bath, done her hair and dressed before I even got out of bed.
You should have seen her when she came out of her room yesterday morning, her hair nicely pressed and curled, red lipstick to match the detail on her white blouse and dark blue pants to complete her look. She was absolutely beaming with health and energy. If I wasn’t such a curmudgeon in the AM I would have given her a big hug, but me being who I am in the morning I did manage to tell her that she “looked great” and that I “loved her hair”.
Add to that the fact that SHE asked me for her meds so she could be responsible for taking them twice a day and I gotta say, I’m impressed-and pleasantly surprised. I still fill up her “7-day a week pill container” and monitor that she’s taken her meds but I don’t hand them out to her and stand over her while she takes them anymore. Now she’s the one who makes sure she has her morning pills with breakfast and takes her Aricept at night, right before sleep. It’s been about a week and I have yet to remind her to take her meds.
More often than not she’ll shout out to let me know when’s taken them, which is annoying but she’s being diligent so I keep my mouth shut. I’ve been trying really hard NOT to make “rules” since we started living together but there are some things that are a matter of survival and sanity-i.e: Miss Cathy has a habit of talking to you even if you’re not around, and if she doesn’t get a response she’ll just talk louder, ultimately screaming out at you and calling it a conversation, it doesn’t matter if she’s in the kitchen and you’re into the bedroom.
I suggested that “if you don’t see me in the room-don’t talk”, it’s gotten mixed results but it’s getting better. I know I sound like a bitch, but still…….
It is amazing to watch her as she “recovers” and adjusts day to day. In the beginning I was quietly (well, maybe not so quietly) resigned to living with and caring for someone who was (for lack of a better way of putting it) about 60% “there” but now Miss Cathy is about 85% her old self. The remaining percentage may be gone or it’s just lying dormant, I don’t know, maybe time will tell. I know that the Aricept is not a “cure” and that she’ll progressively deteriorate but that’s not today. Today I’m happy to report that it’s just great to see her moving through her day the way she is now, she’s just so “present”.
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