My mom excitedly informed me a little over a year ago that the people on TV
could see her and she didn't know when the TV had changed to allow it. My father
would anger her by telling her that this was not true. Unfortunately, he still
hasn't learned his lesson and continues to attempt to bring her back to reality
as we know it. I'm not sure what and how AD people think these things, but I
find it is best to simply agree with her and respond to things such as, "the
Rose Bowl parade was marvelous! There were some people with me who seemed to
know everything about the floats and they were telling me all about them!" Heck,
if she was having such a nice time from her living room in NJ and thought she
was in the warmer location of the parade, who am I to correct her?
My favorite, though, had to be her reaction to the fund raising on Public TV.
She kept telling them she had no money to give, yet they persisted in asking.
She left the room to get away from them! I explained that they asked lots of
people for money to keep broadcasting, but she still thought they were pushy.
;-)

-steve

The TV thing seems to be really common. My MIL thought that people on
TV could see her and talk to her, and she wouldn't watch TV in her
bathrobe as a consequence. There was no convincing her otherwise.
There was a Canadian children's show called Mr. Dressup (quite similar
to the US's Mr. Rogers) and she really thought she was buddies with
the guy (i.e. they had nice chats every weekday afternoon).

She also got ideas in her head about sexual attacks. At one point, in
the first assisted living place she lived in, she became convinced
that a couple of very nice, gentle, short haired female attendents who
were trying to help her bathe and dress appropriately were MEN trying
to do bad things to her. She'd go on and on about these men - took us
a while to figure out what she was on about. I mean, what can you do?
She was intensely private, but she really did need help with both
activities. When she dressed herself, she'd get the bra wound into a
tangled ball topped with a handful of safety pins, the buttons on the
blouse done up all wrong, the slip on but no skirt, etc. - and then
out she'd go down the hall!

You'd always wonder if there was a grain of truth in the stories she
told (i.e. maybe she HAD been assaulted) but on the other hand, her
explanation for the state of her few remaining teeth when she refused
to wear her plates was that bad boys were hitting her in the face on
the way to school.

Mary G.

Mom has calmed down somewhat now, but just a couple of months back she
would get furious with the TV. She would scream at it and throw
anything she had at the TV set. Violent shows were out as were
newscasts. She thought the violence was in the house, a fire would make
her think her house was going to burn down, and TV reporters were
trying to get her money. She also hated any animals as they were in the
house and food commercials because the people were eating in her living
room. Even cartoons were not safe. I could never convince her it was
just TV and not reality. For some reason, sports were OK most of the
time. I am not a sports addict, but I have watched more sports in the
last year just because she would allow it. As I have said, she has
calmed down some now, and I can watch more. But if I leave the room,
when I get back the TV will be off. And she will have no idea how it
got turned off.
--
Sparky