45 minutes in bedlam...

I think it's time for another small peek into the life that is tainted by Alzheimer's.  It's a small peek because this was just the last 45 minutes.

Mom has been complaining that she's hungry and, say it with me, "I haven't eaten in the 3 days!"  She has been begging for dinner.  My oldest made dinner, club sandwiches, and brought her an easy version of it.  We all started eating and Mom immediately tried to give her food away.  She didn't want it, she wasn't hungry.  After several minutes of coaxing, arguing, threatening, bribing and then giving in, we took the plate away from her.  She got up and went to her room and closed the door.  Well, most of the way.

As the rest of us were eating, we heard a persistent knocking.  My daughter went and looked and could see Mom through the 2 inch crack in the door.  She was begging for someone to open the door.  I should mention that her door does not latch.  She still has a knob on both sides, but I took the mechanism out of it a couple of years ago.  She cannot lock herself into the room.  So, there she is begging for help.  She wasn't scared.  She just wanted out of the open door.

We continued eating our dinner.  In relative peace.  With no one yelling at us about our food.

It took her a couple of minutes, but she figured out how to walk out of the open door.  We had left her sandwich next to the couch in the living room.  She sat down and began to eat.  We were all busy with our own tasks at this point. I was writing this entry.  The doors were blocked and Mom was blocked into the limited areas that she is allowed wander.   

Fast forward 10 minutes to when it all got interesting, to my youngest running out and screaming, "Mom!  Grandma just flooded the bathroom!"  My mother had taken the plug out of the bathroom sink, shoved her turkey sandwich down the drain, turned on the water and dumped a bottle of cleaner into the mess.  The entire floor was under about an inch of water sudsy water. 

We cleaned it all up.  On the bright side, the baseboards are really clean.  The down side is that tomorrow I will have to get under the sink and lock the stopper back into the sink. 

As for tonight?  If she says one more word about being hungry, I shall have to lock her into her room, the one that can't be locked.