Plateau?

It's hard for me to read Helen of late. She is staying to herself more, reading. She forgot she had lunch today when Scott came over with chicken from Bojangle's. I suppose it's kind of a waiting game right now to see what happens next, if anything. R.

Helen's Brain

There are more nerve connections in the brain as there are stars in the sky. Think about that. Trillions or more. When a nerve cell or group of nerve cells loses its blood supply to a mini-stroke it not only affects those cells, but the cells connected to those cells and the cells connected to those

cells.

Fortunately, other brain cells "know" this and are able to modify themselves to do the job the now dead cells were doing. In Helen, at present, this takes 2-3 days, on average. And so 2-3 days after Friday's mini-stroke she was back to her old self again. Will she suffer a massive stroke? Who knows? Nobody knows except God, and He's not tellin.' But for now it's good to have Helen "back." R.

Sunday April 11

Was out to Mom's this morning. I got there at 9 and gave her her morning medicine. She said she had eaten already so I didn't force that issue. I, however, had not and, in reaching in the refrigerator was assaulted by the smell.

I threw away over 25 pounds of rotten food from her fridge this morning. Please quit taking it out there !! A whole uncooked chicken, a bunch of collards and onions, numerous items of left over food that were moldy. There was a ham in there from heaven-only-knows when - it was green and fuzzy. The one Vic brought out on Easter Sunday was in there but I left it just to keep some semblance of peace.

Mother got really angry with me for throwing away MOLDY blueberries even though she has a package of good blueberries in the fridge. Yeah - so angry she went for a walk. Sorry folks, but I'm not leaving moldy food in there for her to eat.

Up until that time (about 3 hours) she seemed in pretty good spirits. She is still insisting on getting a suntan on her legs. What is up with that ?? She's NEVER wanted a suntan and she sits on the deck - despite my suggesting she's getting burned - for 2 hours at at time.

After I cleaned the fridge and washed up all the containers I actually weighed the bag of trash - it really was 25 pounds.

I left three open containers of mayo, 3 open jars of grape jelly, 5 (yep, count 'em) 5 loaves of bread. She got mad because I threw out a loaf of green fuzzy rye bread, too. And yes, she has another loaf of rye in the fridge.

I don't do well with the silent treatment and the cold shoulder, dementia or not. And I'll tell you I feel pretty crappy about it, but - I asked Scott to give her her evening meds and told him where the medicine box is (in the brown cabinet above the white medicine cabinet in the kitchen. I asked Gary to check in on her a couple times this afternoon. So she should be well taken care of for the rest of the day.

I kissed her goodbye and said I love you. She declined to respond. Told ya - she was angry.

So please..... unless you plan on sitting down and eating what you brought WITH her, then don't leave it there !! It's just gonna spoil.

Oh yeah - she does not need carrots, she has three bags full. Same thing with celery. And the container of meat salad ? I THINK she made that this week..... maybe Rob knows.

amy

Dern!

Here I do my good deed for today, writing down how to recognize and care-take someone with a mini-stroke, and then Helen has one sometime early today, She wasn't able to carry on a conversation, preferring to stay on her own topic, however irrelevant it was to the reality going on then. There was a lot of "rummaging" through the house and finally a fixation concerning her medication, asking me to write down the date of each am and pm dose lid on a post-it note, then scotch-taping each one down, and still, for all the explaining I did, never "got it." Needless to say the medication has returned to the brown cupboard above the "sweets" refrigerator DON'T LEAVE IT ANYWHERE ELSE! KEEP IT ALL OUT OF HELEN'S SIGHT! She was sort of non-talkative as she rummaged and her speech topics didn't fit the situation. She spent a fair amount of time leaning against the deck rail. She was fine with Scott in her "Scott mode" which has been there all their lives, that is to say, long-term memory and she can do that mode easily because it's a familiar way to act (in both senses of the word.) She has totally forgot yesterday and made a couple of "too close together repeating of sentences. Pray God she comes out of this one. short-term memory is pretty much out of commission as well as holding on to knew information (as evidenced by the pill box incident) I've asked Cindy to go over and get a baseline on Helen's behavior, and to call me Sunday night to let me know if it's 24 hr. time. I hope not, but you do whatever it takes. I hope, Becky, that you can get this message to Chuck, as he and his family will be weekending there. R

Mini-stroke Symptoms

It's Been 20 since I was in nursing school, but I'm going to give it a shot. Amy, you are invited/encouraged to weigh in on this. Someone asked me how I could tell if Helen has had a mini-stroke, from which Helen recovers w/in 2-3 days. These behaviors are sudden, that's what tell you it's a mini-stroke and not AZD. This is part is mostly what I have seen in Helen, plus a little learned teaching other caregivers and as an RN.

Some signs a person who has had a Mini-Stroke

1) There is a generalized confusion on her part and she goes around the house like she is looking for something (usually at night, but sometimes not.) I don't know a specific name for this behavior. I call it "rummaging." She also be moving slower and more to forget how to cook things, which is dangerous.

2) She is non-conversational for the most part and when she does talk, it often makes no sense or she makes up parts of stories to "fill in the blanks" in her memory the mini-stroke has made.

3) There may be a difficulty in communicating. She may be looking right at you, but if you look closely at her eyes, you can pretty much tell that she's not understanding a word you're saying.

Caregiving suggestions

During the 2-3 days when her brain is recovering

1) stay close

2) Explain to her what y9u or you and she are doing as it happens, to help with her confusion.

3) Helen may lose her sense of time (an abstract concept) so don't introduce and expect her know "time prompts" like 'later on" "Yesterday" "Tomorrow." Even the innocuous word 'when' should be used sparingly us. And do not try to correct her as you would only confuse her. (if you have ever seen her w/o medication, it looks about the same, so that is a way to tell if she if taking her medication. She cannot miss one, signal dose, these seems to come on quickly as well, so check her medication box) With her memory loss and confusion brought about by a mini-stroke, shes apt to forget to take them ( who doesn't?), or God forbid, take too many.

That is when you put her medication box in the brown cupboard above the white refrigerator that has the Honey Buns in it. That's all for now. I'll be posting more information soon; R.

Bouncing Back from Recent TIA

Helen got off to a slow start today, fairly non-communicative, but a combination of time outdoors on the porch alone, Rawhide, turkey and dressing, A River Runs Through It (one of my favorite movies, Helen watched all of it, laughing in all the right places, and, I assume, getting her heart wrenched in all the right places as well), still more Rawhide (she's getting to be a fan) and a long, late-afternoon on the deck conversation with Helen (reminiscing pretty darned accurately) seem to have done the trick. I believe she is almost back at her baseline of two weeks ago until the next TIA. If another one happens soon on the heels of these last two, that would probably signal a "go ahead" for a few 24 hr. stints until her brain finds different pathways and she recovers again, then no 24s again until the next one, though (I repeat) I'm still not comfortable with Helen being alone from 4-5 pm 'til 10 am. The TIAs, it seems, are getting a little more frequent, and may possibly continue to do so. AZD doesn't really figure into it right now, I think. It's those "vascular accidents" that Dr. Crane mentioned that are the present focus. Remember, it's her entire vascular system that is compromised, not just her brain. But like I said, she seems to bounce back in a few days presently. Sitting on that deck was more healing than anything, I think, for both of us. Lets hope the good weather continues. R.