2024 Life Logs, Day 314: Lunch with Nephew Tommy, Then Shopping
Date: Sunday, November 10, 2024
Weather in Mooresville: Mostly Cloudy and Cooler; High Temp 58, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home with my Sister at Terra Bella, Mooresville, NC
Today was not a day of rest for me. It was a workday of shopping for clothes, snacks, personal care items, bottles of water, and other essentials. Patsy’s dementia seems to have progressed significantly since I was here this summer. Although she knows people, she can’t answer questions about how old she is or even tell you her last name. She recognizes it immediately when you say it, but she can’t come up with it. Along with losing memory or what I’ll call vital statistics like age, birthdate, mother or father’s last name, naming her own children, and even her own last name, she now has lost all executive functioning. She can answer the phone, but she certainly can’t call anyone or remember to put the phone back in the charging cradle. When she sits down for a meal, she doesn’t eat unless reminded, and she can’t figure out how to swallow the pills she has to take. She has to be dressed and undressed, and she has to have help going to the bathroom. She can’t turn the TV on or off or use the controls on her recliner. But she can tell me what she needs from the store. I try to buy anything and everything she needs when I am here and then I have her afternoon companion that we hire to shop for her in between.
After taking her out to lunch with our nephew Tommy today, I took her for a little Sunday drive out to a place called The Point, which is literally a point of land extending out into Lake Norman. It is where the wealthy people of Mooresville live. I thought it was a lovely area until I saw a TRUMP National Golf Course sign in front of me. I was shocked at how that suddenly and totally spoiled the beauty for me!
After taking Patsy home, I headed out to do her shopping. I knew Walmart would have most everything, so I went there and loaded the back of my rental car with everything from bottles of water to Depends to snacks to yoga pants. Then I returned to Costco to return one pair of pants I bought yesterday that didn’t fit and to buy more pants that did fit. I need to find flannel pajamas for her, but I might just have to order those. It was getting dark, so I headed home to get everything put away. I will continue shopping tomorrow. Then tomorrow evening I will head to my nephew Tommy’s home to spend tomorrow night. My flight is at 9 am on Tuesday, but it is only 30 minutes from Tommy’s to the airport so it won’t have to be a super early morning. There is always so much to be done when I visit here that I truly look forward to getting back to home sweet home.
BTW—I texted with Ollie yesterday afternoon and Sam and Jonah last night to check on how Shadow is doing. All three reported that he is doing just fine. Jonah sent me some photos of him and Sam cuddling with my little buddy. I miss him so much when I am away.
