Update on

[Guest guest]

Tom,

First I want to welcome you and your family. I've been behind on my emails.

Anyway, Casey gave some great advice - try not to dwell on the negatives if

that is what the doctor chooses to give. We've all been given grim and

negative news about our kids and most of us will say that at 7 1-2 weeks, its

way too early to know anything for sure!! These kids really do amaze and

astound people. Definitely listen to the good news and strive for that!

Good luck

Jacque, Austin's mom (5 yrs., CHaRgE)

Rose Hill, KS

[Guest guest]

My mom is doing really well. Very forgetful, can't follow simple

instructions, and easily confused - but her personality is intact, her sense

of humor is intact, her outlook is usually (not always) positive, and she

had adapted fully to life in the NH. Of course, this is due in great part

to the excellent care she's getting there - she has developed a wonderful

rapport with most of the staff and the other residents. Since she's so

mobile and alert and active, she's always flitting about from room to room,

visiting with the other residents, answering when she hears someone calling

and then grabbing an aide or a nurse if she has to, and is well loved with

many friends. She is very affectionate with everyone - staff and residents

alike - and people respond well to her, as they always have.

It is like, on her current med regimen and with their handling of her when

she does have a bad day, the " lewies in my head " (as she calls it) are

inhibiting all of the negative behavior she's been exhibiting for the last

several years, and leaving everything that is the best of . More

likely it is the mix of meds that are so perfect for her right now...but the

way she talks about her lewies, almost as if they're pets, make them seem

friendly and benign to her. And I won't tell her any different - my sister

and I have always agreed that her contentment and happiness are more

important than anything else, even the truth.

So she spends her days being social and friendly, walking the halls

visiting, helping the activity director, is VP of the resident council, and

cheering everybody up. This is the mother I'd always missed out on, through

all the years of her drinking and her depressions and her many walls she put

up around herself, the distance she put us all - even my sister and I -

at...all of that is gone.

I know that it can't last, by definition, but maybe God, in these final

years of her life, is granting her some peace, and her family a time to make

peace and make some good memories to carry us through the tough times...

She comes over a lot, since she's only 1/2 mile away, and pretty much makes

herself at home here now, although she says she loves living in " the home "

now, that she's learned she loves the people there and has many friends.

She told me today, probably a half-dozen times, that she doesn't miss having

her own house anymore, that if she were there she would just be alone and

lonely. Now she has a life and gets out (we come here or go places 3-4

times/week) and has people there who need her, and who she enjoys spending

time with. She says she has 2 daughters that are her whole life (we haven't

heard that since we were children) and wants for nothing. This has been her

take on her life for the last month - quite a change from the first month or

so, eh???

Anyway - I'm dog-sitting for the dog she used to own, but who now lives with

my sister downstate. This weekend is the estate sale at my mom's house, and

my sister and her friends have been there for 3 weeks, preparing. The

amount of stuff is amazing - beyond belief. But because of all the people

going through and the frenzied activity of the last 3 weeks, her dog is

staying at " Camp Auntsherry " with my 3 dogs - he loves his pack time - and

today is the first time she's seen him in at least a couple of months.

She'd even forgotten she'd had a dog...but he didn't forget her, and he went

absolutely INSANE when she walked in! Then, when it was time to leave, he

got between her and the front door and wouldn't move...it absolutely broke

my heart, and she cried, but at the same time as she led him to the back of

the house and closed the door so she could go. I'm fairly sure he's

confused, but they had a few fun hours together, and I got a lot of

pictures. I'll put a few up in the photo album shortly - it will give me

something to do until it's time to pick my husband up from work at 1:00 a.m.

.

Anyway - I just wanted to send an update. I thank God every day for the NH,

they have given my mother back to me as far as I'm concerned, and it is

because of their care of her and handling of her behaviors and needs that

she is more content and at peace than she's been in many years...

His,

Sherry

www.owly.net

daughter of , (mis?)diagnosed with AD in 2005, descent slowed by

Aricept; diagnosed with LBD March 2008, in a wonderful NH 1/2 mile from my

house. We're learning to live with Lewy...