Monday, August 11, 2014

Nice day yesterday. Had company, but mom wasn’t terribly interested until they had been here a few hours. I finally coaxed her out onto the porch, where she greeted Cheryl as she usually does: I haven’t seen you in so long. How have you been?

It’s one of those all-purpose greetings that serves those with bad/no memories well. But it sufficed. Mom sat next to Cheryl, smiled a lot—not hearing well, and had a good meal. 

I read this morning how a physician had family and friends called his mother on her birthday. She had been failing, but the calls seemed to have an ameliorative effect on her. The woman perked up and found strength. So I have decided to have a Mom Day and invite some family members to call her and say hello. Of course, her birthday in December is a natural day for such an endeavor, but I don’t want to wait that long. I will be sure to include Ann, mom’s former caregiver, and hope she can get to a phone between caregiving on her current job. Mom might not know who everyone is, but she will at least have had several calls and heard several different voices all in the same day. Changes of scenery—even if only from bedroom to porch, voices of friends and family—even if you aren’t sure who they are, can have a huge positive effect. Am hoping this will work and break up mom’s day. Trick is to find such a day. I need to be available at the phones, too, and this is one busy month for me. Well, onward and onward (at mom’s age, there is very little upward movement).