Four Hours of Errands

Today I had to run errands with my mom. She is quite far along in the miserable journey of Alzheimer's. Although she can still walk a little, we used the wheel chair.

On the drive to the dentist's office she became fearful and asked that I stay with her in case they tried to...

I couldn't understand what she was afraid of. Probably she just knew she didn't know what was going on. She really can't put sentences together very often anymore. Understanding what she is trying to say is the gestalt of knowing her, her history, and her body language. Of course sometimes she is just talking and isn't trying to get across anything.

The dentist was uneventful. I stayed in the room with her. Dr. Poitras has been our dentist for 20 years. His staff is wonderful and they "get it" when it comes to elderly patients with dementia.

Our next stop was the Social Security Administration. Mom needs a new card. Believe it or not, my dog ate her old one. We've done fine without replacing it for years, but now the attorney helping us with estate planning wants a copy.

The handicap parking at the office was in the shade of a huge old Oak tree. Hurray! It was about 101 degrees at this point. I was surprised how many people were in the S.S. office. Fortunately we didn't have to wait too long. The young woman who helped us was very nice. The only hitch was mom had to sign the form. She can barely make a mark in the right place, but that's all they need. Apparently it doesn't matter that she has no idea what she's signing. I explained it, but she didn't really understand.

Time for lunch! I decided to stop at Pizza Hut. Mom likes pizza and it's finger food so she can handle it. When we got inside there was no one at the counter. A big set of keys was sitting on the register and I could hear someone puttering around in the kitchen. I waited patiently expecting someone to come out soon since a chime announced our entry. After several minutes I shouted, "Hello!" There was no response, so we left. I plan on writing to the manager.

We ended up in a coffee/sandwich shop in the same parking lot. I had a fantastic bowl of oatmeal with pecans and fruit. Mom had a ham and cheese sandwich. The waitress was great and I was glad to have discovered it. I plan on writing a very different letter to their manager.

Now for our final stop, the DMV. Mom's handicap placard needed to be renewed. Again, the people were wonderful. We were helped right away and the workers were understanding. Mom had to sign again, but this time I gave her a roller ball pen instead of a regular ball point. It made it easier. Her mark looks nothing like a signature and it looks different every time, but as long as they have something in the signature box they're happy.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig.

Reading on vacation

I've been on vacation for the last week. We went to Newport Beach, which has been a tradition for almost 20 years. I did a lot of reading.

Twilight - better than the movie, good beach reading, but not great

New Moon - the sequel to Twilight, whiny, self-indulgent, wallowing, adequate beach reading, now I have to decide if I'll read the third one.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog - intelligent, wallowing - but it gets better - not your typical beach read (intelligent), I recommend it - maybe I just was hypersensitive to wallowing after New Moon

The Tao of Pooh - nice - I recommend it - I didn't get to read all of it, it was being passed around

Altered Carbon - SciFi, good beach reading, very Blade Runneresque - if you liked Blade Runner, I recommend it, I haven't finished it yet