Thursday, June 21, 2007

Today was a busy day. I drove to pick Mom up early this morning. I took her to breakfast at one of my favorite pancake houses. She seemed kind of down ...mentioned that she hadn't really eaten dinner last night. Once I got her in the restaurant and got some coffee in her she started to perk up a bit. We ordered and then sat talking for a few minutes. Once our food arrived, she ate with quite a bit of enthusiasm. I gave her a piece of bacon from my plate to get some protein into her.

After breakfast we drove to the bank...which wasn't open...then drove to the credit union...which wasn't open. We decided to go back to the apartment to get the papers together that I would need to complete the Medicaid application for Dad. She had been resisting this...but finally gave in. After we gathered everything up we drove back to the bank and she got the funds she needed for essentials.

We drove out to see Dad next. He was in his room...so we all sat down. He was kind of awake...but seemed tired. After a while it was time for lunch..so I took him down to the lunchroom while Mom fell asleep in the chair in his room. I fed Dad until Mark showed up to take over. I went and got Mom...we said out goodbyes and then took her back to the car. I insisted that we stop at the store and buy some frozen dinners so she would have meals on hand. Once I got her home we sat down and had lunch. She is so alone and so sad these days. She wants to move into our basement...but I told her it wouldn't work. We are in the midst of finishing the basement...which will probably take the rest of the summer or longer. I took her to a nice assisted living facility right up the street from Dad's nursing home..but she says she can't afford it. In reality, she could probably afford it if we helped a bit.

I headed to the copy shop and the library to work on the Medicaid paperwork. Got it all together and then went to drop it off at DSHS. Headed home....let the dogs out...changed clothes and then headed back to the nursing home to feed Dad his dinner. His appetite is not as good as it was a week ago. He seems restless and distracted...also more remote. He kept putting something in my hand and telling me to put it in my pocket...of course there was nothing there but I played along anyway. After dinner we watched the news for a few minutes and then he wanted to go to bed. There are flashes of the Dad I knew in there...but more and more it feels like he is drifting away.