I adore you Aimee. You are meant to be doing this.

haha.

Thanks, honey. It feels really good to be doing it.

. I just don't have any experience with what would be comforting/helping to an old lady whose mind is playing evil tricks on her. I fear that just visiting wouldn't be much help - she's aware of what's going on, she's an intellectual and a kickass Professor Emerita, and we all know it's heartbreaking and probably not gonna get any better.

Shir, one of the things I have learned about caring for dementia patients is that while they lose many cognitive functions over the course of their illness, they hold on to their senses of humor and their appreciation of music. In many instances, when we cannot get through to a person with anything else, the music of their youth will get through to them. Hil is right about not contradicting whatever they are talking about, no matter how confused they are. It is much more useful to gently lead them away from the topic. An example of that is when K, a lady I used to work with, would say, "I just don't understand why my mom isn't here to take care of me." Instead of telling her that her mother had died years ago, I would tell her that her mom wanted very much to take care of her but just could not be here right now, and that is why I am here, to take care of her for her mom. And then I would ask her about her mother, what they liked to do together, what music they liked, etc. It sounds as though your Grandmother of the Heart is not quite at that stage yet, so I don't know if that will help much.

Typo, thanks for explaining that.

Aims, you really do have the right mindset.

Thanks, all. It helps, though this morning my mom decided to reschedule our visit to next week. She really doesn't want to see her in this state.

Aims, that's a wonderful story.

Man, I know I'm feeling emotionally exhausted and overwhelmed when the cat barfing makes me almost cry. Granted, he barfed on the patio-door slider, which is possibly the most difficult thing to clean, but still.

He's been barfy the last few days, I don't know why. He doesn't seem to be sick; he's acting like his normal self, everything's normal, he's just throwing up.

I'm the one who's sick. I need someone to clean up after me. My house is a pit and I don't have the energy or will to clean it.

Oh, he just threw up again. And again. I'm going to clean this mess up and then have a drink. Drinking is bad when you're sick, isn't it? I'm drinking.

I really need to replace this carpet.

Sorry for the crappy day, Zen. gives cat a stern look Have a drink. I hope the cat is finished with the yuck stuff.

I'm at the office working. Which is pretty much a good thing. Except I am supposed to have help from my sons, and I don't. Poopyheads. Anyway, I got this huge contract that we have been wanting for 6 years, which is good. But now I have to work my ass off to do the actual work. Then there will be a bunch more contracts to follow. I don't even have time to read the resumes for the ads I placed much less interview people to help. So, exhausted and overwhelmed, but it beats being broke, ya know.