Who are you?

Spent an hour with mom today. She wanted to know if I was Tracy....Kristy.... I think she knew who I was after awhile... She kept wanting to go to bed, and I kept writing "after supper." She wouldn't stay put and kept wheeling herself to find her room.....to go to bed. She did eat some supper and wanted to share it with me. She was fine with me leaving and wanted to know when I would be there tomorrow.....cause I put "see you tomorrow" on her board.

It doesn't get any easier to leave her when I visit.

A Saturday

Got to Mom's right when they were starting to serve supper. Mom was at the table, with blanket in her mouth......just wanting to sleep. I cut up Art's brat patty for him & left. Mom's hair is WAY too short!!

Haircut

Mom got a haircut today. Oh my....it's really short. BUT...She kept telling people that she really likes it, so guess that's all that matters. Her haircut is the first thing she mentioned. She said that she told her, "that's enough, don't cut any more!" She said that a lady from Albert Lea cut her hair.

Mom and Me on March 21, 2010

Emily Hansen on March 21, 2010

My Mother's Childhood

Yesterday, all the way up to the cities and some of the way home, I listened to a tape that my cousin recorded on April 21, 2000, of my mom and her brother, Emil, talking about their childhood. That was right before Mom got “Dementia.” It was nice to hear Mom talking and remembering. Some of the things below came from that conversation.

Emma Bessie Prantner was born July 26, 1917, at her Great Uncle’s place near Seaforth, Minnesota. She was the third child of seven born to Emil and Emma Prantner. Her twin brothers had been born just the year before. Milo went to live with their maternal grandparents. The other twin, Jerome, died at the age of nine from Angina. Three more brothers came after Emma. Emma started school at the age of seven. Although Emil & mother Emma could speak both English & Czech, they only taught their children to speak Czech. When they started school, they couldn’t speak English. Emma was very sad because the kids at school called her Fat Emma (after a candy bar). Emma was a skinny little girl! When Emma was 11 years old, her mother died after giving birth to Elsie. Emma remembers that her mother was very sick when she was pregnant with Elsie. She remembers her coughing up blood. Mother Emma gave birth at home (on a farm they were renting), with her mother (Grandma Smetak) delivering the baby. Baby Elsie died one day after her mother died. In those days, they would put the dead in a casket right in their living rooms. I remember Mom telling me that her mother and sister were in the same casket in the living room. So by the age of 11, my mother had lost her older brother, mother and only sister.

Emma’s dad put ads in the Farm paper for housekeepers (when they lived by Seaforth and Glenville). By the sounds of it, they went through A LOT. They may have had one good one, Anna.

When Emma was 14 years old, her dad bought a farm near Glenville, MN. Somewhere around that time, her grandmother (must have been her paternal step-grandmother) told her that Emma and Emily were the same. Well, she liked Emily better so when they moved, she told everyone that her name was Emily. Turns out that her birth certificate said, “Baby Girl Prantner,” so when she needed a copy of her birth certificate (after she was married), she could put whatever name she wanted on it. She put Emily Bessie Prantner. Personally, I think that Fat Emma candy bar had something to do with it!

Dementia OR Alzheimer's (a form of Dementia) OR Multi-Infarct Dementia, MID (a form of Vascular Dementia)

I really don't know what my mother has! She started having memory problems in the summer of 2000 at the age of 83. Her doctor called it dementia. MRI's have revealed that she has had TIA's (mini strokes). That seems to indicate MID. Alzheimer's is one form of dementia. I have heard that the only way to accurately diagnose Alzheimer's disease is to dissect the brain. I just read things on all of the above....but I don't know what she has! I say that she has dementia, because I think it sounds better than Alzheimer's. I thought that with Alzheimer's, the person got progressively worse. Mentally, I can't see that she has gotten worse. The broken bones and loss of hearing caused her to get physically worse. Mom took hormone pills for years. I've read that in studies, they found them to cause dementia. I don't know what she has, but God knows. Emily gave her life to Him at the age of 81....before she got whatever she has, so that's what is important. As a friend reminded me, God has not forgotten about Emily. Praise the LORD!

Few & Far Between

My day brightened when I remembered that today Sara would be working in The Lake (where Mom lives). I would go there earlier than right before supper...cause even if Mom was sleeping, I could talk to Sara. You see, Sara transferred to The Lodge a couple of weeks ago...what a sad day when I found out. But this is the second day this week that she's filled in at The Lake (cause they haven't hired anyone to replace her yet). Pam Riley was still there from the day shift (filling in). She said that Mom had been pleasantly talking ALL day. Well, when Mom talks non-stop, it usually means she has a UTI. When I arrived, Sara and Pam were in the break room; and Sara bought Mom some chili flavored Fritos out of the machine. She said that she always shares them with her. I found Mom in the dining room, sitting quietly. When she saw me, she started talking. I gave her some Fritos, and Art asked if he could have some....."sure." Mom talked and talked the whole time I was there (over an hour and a half). She said that she had picked corn, told how someone had stolen a pretty sweatshirt that Roger had found on the road and gave to her (told me that the day before too, so pretty good that she remembered), how she and dad had to find a different place to live, talked about an old neighbor lady, said that they were a nice family (in the nursing home), and on and on. She wasn't anxious. She was all smiles and joking around. I think that she thinks Sara is her daughter too. When Sara works days, she spends her breaks with Mom. She shared a McDonald's meal with her last Saturday. So, today was one of those "few and far between" days. Mom wouldn't take her pills the whole time she had a UTI a couple of weeks ago. They had to crush her pills in peanut butter and hot chocolate. So she may not have gotten rid of the infection. I hope that's not the case. She was so pleasant today. It was so fun to see her like that. Yesterday, she told me that she thought she had sleeping sickness. AND...she was hungry today and ate half of her hot dog, some potato salad, couple onion rings and a few bites of cantaloupe...AND she thought it was all good! I took a pic of her on my cell phone. I'll see if I can get it posted here. I checked at Alltelpics and it's not there!

A Sleepy Day

I arrived at mom's about 5:35 PM. She was at the dining room table...sleeping. This was a day that she wanted to be left alone. She opened her eyes, shook her head at me and closed her eyes again. The food came....sloppy joe or fish sandwich. I chose a sloppy joe & potato salad for her. When I gently shook her awake, she opened her eyes for a second & then bit her napkin. That's right...napkin. A couple of weeks ago, some new person decided to do away with the "bibs" and use colored cloth napkins instead. They are pretty...but not very practical. Today's visit was...short.