Recuperation

Muddear may have been the one to fall, but we are the ones recuperating. Since the fall, Muddear has experienced significant confusion and frustration. She has been arguing with everyone constantly.

I know you are wondering..."Why do you argue with a 95 year-old-woman with Dementia?" I don't know, I must be mentally ill. Sometimes Muddear can be very rude even mean. My natural instinct is to stand up for myself and "fight" for my respect. Therefore, when Muddear tells me the dinner I just spent over an hour preparing, tastes like "nothing" I tend to get irritated. Or when I administer Muddear's breathing treatment and she starts to yell at me stating that I am wasting her time making her take the treatment, because all of the medicine is gone - my blood pressure begins to boil. It gets even worse when I explain that the treatment is not complete and she starts calling me a liar. Okay, maybe liar is a little harsh, Muddear states that I am not telling the truth.

One day Muddear constantly called Mike and I into her room to tell us that the tubing that connects the nasal cannula to her oxygen machine was hooked up incorrectly! At each occurrence we explained that the connection was fine, but Muddear kept shaking her head "NO" and began pulling on the cord with all of her strength. Finally, realization dawned on me...about a month ago, Mike "re-wired" the cords. He removed the oxygen machine from Muddear's bedroom and placed it in the basement. This required him to run the tubing through the floor - from the basement to Muddear's room. The oxygen machine generates a great deal of heat and was capable of increasing the second floor temperature by 10 to 15 degrees. Unfortunately, Muddear was unable to fathom this concept. She thought she had a cannula and tubing connected to her head that did nothing but rest in a bundle on the floor. Muddear spent the entire evening trying to convince us to remove the cannula and tubing as it was a total waste of her energy to carry this "extra stuff" around.

In addition to Muddear's irritability, she has been waking up every night in the middle of the night. Tuesday night was the worst. Muddear woke up every 30 minutes screaming for help and yelling that she could not breath. Mike checked on Muddear at least three (3) times and I checked a minimum of four (4) times. Every time either of us entered Muddear's room, it was to discover that she had taken off her oxygen. Whenever asked why she removed the oxygen, Muddear would yell "I didn't do that!"

I need a vacation.