The drive down was pretty much normal. Mom asking where we were now and how much longer until we got to Grandma's? When we finally arrived in Anaheim, were the nursing home was we got a motel room and mom couldn't understand why. She began to get confused and agitated. I thought that a good nap would help her and then we would go see Grandma. When mom woke up she was really confused and wanted to get back on the road, she stayed like this until she saw Grandma, her mother. We stayed in Anaheim for three days, the last time we saw Grandma mom gave her big hugs and kisses, took pictures and helped Grandma back to her room, all the while mom was continuing to be confused about things.

The drive became unbearable. Mom began talking to people in the back seat that weren't there, seeing things, not recognizing familiar sights. She even thought that we had kidnapped her from her apartment and tied her up (it was the seat belt). I just attributed her behavior to lack of sleep and her age. After all, she hadn't slept much and at 79 that can do a lot to you.

A few days after we got home I took her to the doctor for a check up. Everything was fine, no problems noted according to the doctor. So, everything remained the same, mom in her apartment and I in my house, visiting and talking in the phone as we always had. As time went on, little things kept happening. She would forget what time it was, thinking that day was night, night was day, forgetting to eat, not remembering if she had taken her medication, over-medicating as a result. Little things like that. So, after getting nowhere with her doctor, no answers, I decided that it was time for mom to move in with me, this was February 1995.

We moved mom out of her apartment on May 1st, 1995. We were looking forward to her 80th birthday, which was on the 17th. We were going to have a big party for her, however on the 11th she feel and broke her pelvis and right wrist. This was when our lives changed forever. The shock of falling and getting things broken, combined with lots of medication for the pain, for depression (PROZAC), for sleepless nights, for water retention, for dizziness, etc.and having her mother, my Grandma die on the 18th, just three hours after she last talked with her, threw my mother into a full blown case of Alzheimer's. (We later found out that she also had chemical toxicity from all the medication) As a result of this information I got mom a new doctor who has been wonderful.

Mom was no longer able to get out of bed, she became totally non-ambulatory, incontinent of bowel and bladder, unable to feed herself, dress herself, everything was gone all at once. Most of the time she didn't know me, she thought I was her mom, she didn't know where she was or who was around her. I took care of her in this condition until I physically couldn't any longer. I had just had two surgeries on my left shoulder and one on my right elbow and I didn't feel confident lifting her alone anymore so, on July 7th I placed her in a rehabilitation center. Once there her new doctor was able to monitor her medications and reduced them to almost nothing. After just one month she was released to come home again using a WALKER instead of the wheel chair. All of the guilt that I felt for putting her in 'one of those places' was worth it.

They taught her how to walk again. I didn't realize that she had just forgotten how. Now, with the new medication she wasn't as slow and dazed as she had been. Most of her memory of family members was back, after just two months of being home she was off the walker and going it by herself. Most of the time she even knows where she is. She doesn't remember anything about the months that her mind was completely gone but, she does know that she has Alzheimers and what it is. I found that knowing is important because it gives her a "cause' or reason why things are happening that she doesn't understand, then she pushes herself to do more for herself. I have told her that keeping her mind active helps so, she reads the paper every night. She doesn't always remember what she read but, that is O.K.

The past year has been pretty good, mentally, for mom. She did fall again, on August 16th, 1996, this time she broke her hip. She had surgery and got a plate and three pins but, she was only in the hospital for five days and was able to come home to recover. Now, just two and a half months later she is getting around really good with the use of a walker (her security blanket). The daily stuff that mom still does, like asking the same question a hundred times in five minutes, repeating herself all the time and feeding the dogs most of her food when she thinks I'm not looking, still drives me nuts. Most of the time I can handle it but, sometimes it really gets on my nerves so I go outside and look around the garden or whatever and I don't feel guilty anymore.