Mary,I am glad you posted the Stages of Alzheimers in the change thread.
Thank you for that. :-) [Wasn't sure whether to put what I wanted to
talk about there in that thread or start another one,so decided to start
another one. Tired,so don't know if that was best or not?] (ha)

But reading the stages of Alzheimers made me think more of where my Mom
is now and some of that can be confusing. Such as incontinence. She's
had trouble with that for years,for other various reasons and long
before the Alzheimers showed up.  And I wonder how many 85 year olds
like my Mom could use help bathing even if they don't have Alzheimers?
Need help simply because of physical loss of some abilities?

So sometimes it seems hard if not completely impossible to always see
what would be due to Alzheimers and what would simply be due to old age
and other things that come about even before that? Somethings I see just
aren't cut and dried.
For a short while in February Mom had some fecal incontinence. Sometimes
I think she would just not think in time that she needed to go to the
bathroom or her potty chair.

Not at all times;but for awhile now she has sometimes fought me when she
went to the potty chair or commode and needed to have a wet Depends
changed. Sometimes she claims they aren't wet even when they are. :-)
Usually I just go on the assumption that they will be and 90% of the
time that will be correct. And I am so tempted to start carrying a small
pair of scissors in my pocket to use it I need to cut the sides of her
Depends so that I can take them off easier. Would just have to be
careful that she nor I hurt ourselves if I did that.

It's also only been in the last month that Mom has refused to sometimes
use her potty chair in the living room when the TV is on-her hospital
bed is in here with the potty chair on the opposite side of the room.
Most times she can walk over there fine with her cane and sometimes even
without that. But lately she has gotten the idea,at times,that those
people on TV are in our house and can see her,so sometimes I simply have
to turn the TV off so she can use her potty chair without those people
"seeing" her.  

And at times she waves to some people on TV as if they could see her.
And at least a couple of times in the last two weeks she has gone over
to the TV and used her fist to knock on it because what some people were
doing on there was much displeasing to her! :-) I know;but I still have
to smile some at that one.

And no way can my Mom cook anymore. Hasn't been able to do that in a
good while. I do keep bananaes on the kitchen table as she like those
for a snack and will get them as she pleases;but sometimes I find parts
of bananaes in the strangest places! The other day a half of one was on
the floor by my bed. And sometimes parts of bananaes will end up in a
glass of milk. That part doesn't bother me though as she can easily go
ahead and eat that and drink the milk as she pleases.

And it's been a good long while that Mom has thought many people were
still alive when they passed away years ago. And mostly there is no use
in telling her different as she won't believe it. [One of Mom's younger
sisters came by the other day and Mom began talking about their parents.
I got a little upset at aunt telling Mom that their parents were dead.
To Mom they are not. To Mom they are in our house or if she asks about
them I just say they are at their own home.]

And sometimes Mom doesn't know who I am. Sometimes she asks me where is
Ronny? That's been off and on again for maybe a year? Most of the time I
simply don't know for sure if she knows who I am or not? I just have to
listen and pick up clues in what she says to ever know on that part.

Surprisingly somewhat to me,at 85yo,
Mom can get around quite well most of the time and that even with out a
cane. Yesterday she was going full steam in sweeping the living room and
kitchen floor. :-) And doing a blamed good job of it too! LoL When she
gets like that,I leave her alone because she is doing something that is
occupying her mind and she's not worrying as far as I can see. In
fact,her only concern the other day was,where is the dust pan? :-)

But yet so much of the time she seems to not know that her potty chair
is right across the room from her bed. And yet she uses it at night when
I'm asleep. For a short while,a number of weeks ago,she sometimes simply
went where ever. Yipes! My room,by a door in the kitchen or by the door
to the bathroom. Just glad that stopped for whatever reason.

And I would say many,many times she simply doesn't remember where the
bathroom is. Nor does she usually remember where the trash can is in the
kitchen. I usually just tell her where that is when she asks/is
obviously looking;but then a short while back I told her just go in the
kitchen,etc. and it shocked me that she didn't know where the kitchen
was. That even though it was just a few feet from her with an opening
and only a half wall between our living room and the kitchen. At that
moment she simply had no idea where the kitchen was even though we can
see nearly all of it from our living room.

Sorry for making such a long post;but I'm just trying to put down as
much as I can, so as to get a better idea of what stage of Alzheimers
Mom is in.

Most of the time she has no trouble with speech;but other times I've
noticed her struggling to get out what she is trying to say. I think
sometimes she just can't remember the words she wants to say? Or perhaps
she does know them and there is just a disconnect between the brain and
the actual spoken word? I don't know? I'm just glad that doesn't happen
too often as I can see such upsets her.

And sometimes;but not too often she's moody and that's putting it mildly
for sometimes! LoL Sometimes she's just downright mad! LoL The trouble
being that most of what she gets mad about makes no sense getting mad
about. But most of those episodes come and go fairly quick.

Trying to think of anything else? Well,there was the wondering across
the road onetime last year and her going into our neighbors unlocked
house;but that was solved by putting different locks on our doors so she
can't get out on her on.

Then there was last winter when she turned on the propane gas;but didn't
light the heater! I woke up to find gas all over this part of the house
and Mom calmly eating at the table! LoL Fixed that where she couldn't
turn that heater on or off on her on.

Then the turning on of the electric cookstove and walking off at leaving
that on. Solved that by cutting off the main breaker to the stove except
when I'm cooking. Have got in the habit of checking the stove every
night before I go to bed just to be sure I have the breaker off.

Another hard part is getting Mom to take a bath. If it's in the
evening,she tells us she already had a bath that morning. If it's in the
morning she says she had a bath the night before. And you can not
convince her that she didn't! (ha)

A lady comes by now to help Mom with her bath;but I still need to help
her get Mom in the tub and sitting on her chair. Supposed to have a
shower stall put in fairly soon and I will be glad when that happens.

Ah yes,something I still need and want to do and that is simply build a
fence on two sides of our back yard. Connecting them to the two fences
we already have. And it goes without saying that all gates will have
locks on them. Need that so Mom can come outside when she pleases when
I'm working out back. Want it especially for when I'm working in the
garden this spring. The main garden spot being right behind our
backyard. Just need that fence so Mom can come out back when she wants
to and I can be working in the garden and not having to worry about her
coming out and wondering off.

One other thing I've noticed now and then over maybe a year? Sometimes
when I've gone to the bathroom and then come out, there will be Mom and
what bothers me is she's sometimes almost in tears. She's just so upset
wondering where I'm at and wondering if I've gone off somewhere and left
her. Now that one has really bothered me because she is so upset at
those times. But nothing a person can really do about that. Other times
though I can tell here I have to go take a bath and will be out of the
bathroom in a bit and all will be fine when I do come out. Just never
know when it will be and when she'll be upset and thinking I've gone off
and left her.

Again,sorry for the long post- :-) just trying to get most everything in
that I can remember and sure I am not getting it all!

And I do get upset at times when one of my older sisters suggests that
Mom might need to go into a nursing home. I just tell them,no she
doesn't-not yet. And to me she doesn't need that as long as she can get
about and get enjoyment out of being in her own home and yard. Even
though at times she does not know it is hers and other times she does.

And though I got upset when it happened,I am now very happy that someone
dropped a little weaned black and white can on us about 6 weeks ago. :-)
He's about 3 months old now and most of the time Mom is fine with him
and enjoys watching him play. But the cat learned quick that if Mom gets
upset with him and or shakes her cane at him,then he better get under
the chair or bed where she can't get to him! :-) Amazing how smart such
a little animal can be! Sometimes I'm online and he'll run behind my
legs if Mom gets on to him! LoL And the other day I found the little rat
sleeping in my printer tray! LoL And yes,I named him Trouble; :-) but I
am still very glad we have him! LoL

Love,

Ronny
Acts17-11@webtv.net

And now abides faith,hope,love-these three;but the greatest of these is
love.
1 Corinthians 13:13

Jesus to his disciples:
"A new commandment I give to you,that you love one another;as I have
loved you,that you also love one another. By this all will know that you
are My disciples,if you have love for one another." John 13:34,35

"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out
of their distresses.  He brought them
out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in
pieces."
(Psalm 107:13-14, NKJV)

http://www.pflag.org/ (PFLAG)
Parents,Families and Friends
of Lesbians and Gays

Gay Christian webpages:Click below.

http://www.freedominchrist-sf.org/article_rd.htm Freedom In Christ

http://www.christiangay.com/Full%20Printable%20Version.htm He Loves You
No Matter What They Say

http://www.rainbowbaptists.org/index.htm Rainbow Baptists

http://www.ecinc.org/ Evangelicals Concerned

http://www.truluck.com/ Steps To Recovery From Bible Abuse

http://www.ufmcc.com/ Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community
Churches

http://www.cathedralofhope.com/
Cathedral of Hope MCC-Dallas,Texas

http://www.dignityusa.org/ DignityUSA

http://www.courage.org.uk/ Courage UK

----------------
http://www.plagal.org/ Pro Life
Alliance of Gays and
Lesbians
---------------
http://groups.google.com/ {Google}

Ronny:
I was saved/born again by grace through faith in Jesus Christ when I was
16 years old. By repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. At
that time God came into my life and let me see God and let me see myself
and my need of God. That was the goodness of God that led me to
repentance. :-) Then God explained to me about Jesus Christ and him
being on the cross for me,there in my place,there taking my sins upon
himself. And God's love was pouring out upon me as God was showing me
all of this and explaining it to me. I believed God. I put my faith in
what God told me because that was backed up by both God's direct word to
me and God's love pouring out upon me. I put my belief in God and my
faith in Jesus Christ and in what he had done for me on the cross.
Ronny