Grateful that life hasn’t changed much overall since our last post.  Mom’s holding her own.  Surprising her doctors and hasn’t gotten to the point of just giving in and giving up.

Her last visit with the neuro left him stuttering.  I think after reading the notes from her last visit with her PCP he figured things were really going downhill… as Pallative Care is now on her chart.   He wanted to know if hospice was making regular visits.  Ummm, no.  We’re not ready or to that point yet.

We did talk about having to cue more frequently, change things up a bit to keep the anxiety levels to a minimum and music seemed to be the key in that respect.

There have been several studies recently concerning music and Alzheimer’s.  And we have to agree with their findings.  Mom loves the music from the 30’s, 40’s and early 50’s.  We’ve been able to find several stations that cater to those eras and they bring her lots of joy. She’s able to relax and enjoy the day and evening more frequently.  Her appetite increases and she asks for her music quite often now.  We’ve noticed that the “picking” decreases as we find she’s keeping time to the music with her hands and her feet. And her hair is growing back.

We’ve listened to audio books and then watched the movie… she prefers the movie to listening to the book.  Books and magazines don’t hold much interest at this point in time.  She does enjoy looking at pictures and we’ve just learned that some old family albums have turned up in a box and will be delivered this week for her to have at chair side.  I think she’ll enjoy that.

We continue to be grateful for each day we have with Mom.  She can be feisty when she doesn’t want to do something or isn’t feeling particularly well — but for the most part, she is the sweet, kind, ever smiling woman we all love and care for.

Feeling blessed to have one more day…