We thought Mom might be moving out of the geri-psych hospital yesterday or today–but suddenly, pneumonia. We decided we did not want to treat it–but that was after they had already given her bags of antibiotics in Emergency (before they figured out what it was). Today Aggles showed up with the Sunday paper; I with 55 Mozart piano sonatas freshly downloaded to my iPhone.
Mom was wearing an oxygen mask and was more "with us." But she couldn't begin to comprehend the catheter, which instead of providing comfort caused her considerable upset. The doctor had taken her off all her medication yesterday, thinking that the high white blood cell count might have been due to something she was taking. She was not calm!
Last week I had gotten an oversized book of National Park photos out of the library to show her. I put her glasses on her nose, propped the book on a pillow and turned the pages. When I got to a photo of a river running through the Grand Canyon, she said, "G. O. S. H."
So while Aggles and I were going through her apartment at the Terrace, I found a Scrabble game and poured all the little wooden tiles into a cup. I took them over yesterday. I set her glasses on her nose and spelled out the word "L. O. V. E." This was the worst day and I got no response. I was so rattled that I couldn't think of another word in the world to spell. But then the second most important word in the English language came to me, and I spelled out "F. O. O. D."
At one point today Mom said (it was hard to understand her), "I don't know what to write!" So we decided to each say 3 things that we felt glad about, and I'd write them down. When it was Mom's turn, she said, "My mama. That I got the car down." (What?) "That I was able to get the car down. I believe I did ... ice, and Margaret."
