Cara Anguisette's blog: "My Momma"

So last week I decided to have my momma evaluated for dementia/alzheimers. On the same day I was also told that they were doing blood work to rule out any sort of possible illness and they would call me with results when they came in.  As of thursday last week I was still waiting for said results when my mommas kidney specialist called to express concerns about something they had seen, telling me that they called the nursing home about their concerns the day before so after I get off the phone with the drs offince i procede to call the nursing home to let them know that my moms drs office called explaining what they thought it was and that they felt she should have it evaluated by a dr asap if not sent to the er.  the nursing staff seemed like that was the first time they were hearing this news about the kidney specialist concerns. now i know they are short staffed and all but isnt this why have reports during shift changes and notations to charts so that everyone is up to date on every resident and knows everything there is to know that has happened be it a call from a drs office or family member with concerns so that when an audit happens on the state level they can see all notations made to the charts. 

so today I had to step up my calls to the administrator of the nursing home to find out what was going on to express concerns that i left messages on thursday and have yet to be called back. thinking that 2 business days is more than enough time for the person to give me a call back. I realize that my momma is not the only patient in there and that i probably wasnt the only one that called during that time but even drs offices call you back within that amount of time. 

I have found out that she is schedule to be eval'd on the 15th not by who they had said but still someone that is qualified to do it and we will go from there. 

With the passing of my great uncle Denny.  I began to start to wonder if my mom was showing signs of either dementia or alzheimers.  But then again I have been asking and expressing my concern about this with our family doctor for the past few years, only to have him tell me that its her meds that she takes that is causing the forgetfulness. 

Back story is this I had moved to Virginia back some 20 yrs ago it seems now and when I was finally able to make the trip back home to see my family after the move.  Her and my dad had to tell me that if she asks me things more than once its just cause she didnt remember asking the question the first time around.  So fast forward  last week my mom and daughter were talking and my daughter was looking at the article about her being the New Years Baby in the town she was born in back in 1997  mid Jan  and my mother said she lived in Texas now she hadnt lived in Texas since I was around two yrs old  cause our family would be moving to Ohio to be near my grams family.   so my mother went ahead to find a job and to get settled first while leaving me with my grandparents.  also during this visit my mother told my daughter that she was going to call my dad (who passed away due to cancer in May 2019) to see what he wanted to eat.

I gave my Aunt a call to speak with her and she let me know that my mother had forgetten that she returned a call back to her to arrange a visit from her and my grams. only for my mother to call her back 2 weeks later saying she was returning her call.  

I am not looking forward to this next step but it has been taken, I contacted the nursing home to express my wishes to have her evaluated for testing for dementia/alzheimers. 

this is one hardest  things to face in my life right now knowing that this could be some of the last moments that she will remember us and that her memories will fade into the night 

give me strength to help me help her through this transition