August Update

Good morning. It's a foggy August morning and I'm sure the humidity is on the rise again. Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day here but Sunday was quite rainy. I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written an update on Mom, but it's partly due to the fact that there's really nothing new to report to you all.

Most people would visit and feel complete sympathy for our mom...especially if they knew Jackie 10 years ago! Mom was so articulate and loved to be with people and talk with them. She's still much the same way, except she's unable to be understood. We're not really sure how much mom understands. Her dementia is different than Alzheimer's so we're not sure what kind of confusion she faces each day or even what she's thinking. However, she seems to still know us and greets us with a smile most days.

At times she seems restless but we're working with a new medication which seems to be helping her calm down during the day. She sleeps through the night and still has a very healthy appetite. Mom enjoys spearmint gum but we don't enjoy having to coax her to give it up. She'll chew the same piece for hours! We're afraid she's going to take off our fingers one of these days when we try to get it out of her mouth.

Hospice continues to come to the house every day to help with her care. She has received excellent care and has no bed sores. Her skin is beautiful and I never realized how pretty my mom was until this ordeal. She has beautiful white hair and her skin has very few wrinkles. Our local hairdresser comes to the house now to cut her hair and mom still allows us to style it. I think she finds it therapeutic.

We trust you all are enjoying the summer and we appreciate your faithfulness in praying for our family as we continue to go through this trial with our mom.