The Snowflake Chronicles

Journal of a Caregiver: Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Dreams and other Nightmare
Written in August 2010

Word Count: 715

It is August 8, 2010, and Mom woke up about 11:00 PM. I had fallen asleep on the love seat watching a show on the Discovery Channel. Mom was frightened, she wanted to call Grandpa and Grandma to come, pick her up and take her home. She could not find her purse, she did not know where she was and she did not know who I was.

I got up off the love seat and took Mom back in her bedroom to get her purse. Her purse was in the cloths closet on a shelf. We got her purse and she looked in it (Thank God, I put a $20.00 bill in her wallet when, my sister, Faye (sent the $100.00 last week). She looked in her purse, opened her wallet, and saw the $20.00.

Mom was not afraid of me; she just did not recognize me as, her daughter, Neva. We sat down on the bed, she got her glasses case out of the nightstand draw, removed the glasses from the case and put them on. Mom still did not recognize me as her daughter. I do not know who Mom thought I was.

Mom had to go to the bathroom, but did not know where it was. I took her to the bathroom and then after she was finished she went back to bed. Mom did not know where she was when she woke up and it frightened her. Mom did not recognize me; maybe it was because I did not have my teeth in my mouth. It could be Mom did not recognize me because of my age, after all I am 63 years old.

Mom wanted to lie back down in her bed, but she did not want to go back to sleep. She thinks she had a nightmare, a bad dream. I am not convinced that is what happened. This has something to do with the Alzheimer’s disease. I do not know whether it is an indication that the disease is more advanced then I thought or that she is getting worse.

This is not the first time Mom had a dream that was se real she did not know it was a dream. Last year, Mom had another dream. She came into the living room and asked where the girl went. In that dream, a young girl woke her up and then disappeared behind the bed. At the time, I told Mom not to worry because the house was haunted. Eventually Mom forgot that dream and she will probably forget this dream as well.

I know that on Sunday, August 8, 2010 about 11:00 PM Mom woke up and did not know where she was. She did not remember that her parents, my grandparents, were dead; she wanted to call her parents to take her home. I will discuss this with the doctor when we see him on Tuesday, August 10, 2010.

It is 6:34:20 AM; I woke up about 4:30 and checked on Mom. Mom was asleep so I did not wake her. Mom is awake now, she does not remember coming into the living room wanting to call Grandma and Grandpa. Mom thinks I went into her room, I assured it was a bad dream and when people wake up from bad dreams they become disorientated.

It is August 15, 2010; Mom had another dream about Grandma and Grandpa. She does not realize they are dead because when I remarked, “When you dream of the dead, it means you are going to hear from the living.” Mom said her parents were not dead. Instead, she thinks Grandpa went back east somewhere and she does not know where Grandma went. Mom misses her parents and she does not think they are dead. The only thing I can do is let her have her fantasy and remain silent about my Grandparents burial location.

I am intrigued about Grandpa going back east for some reason, but Mom cannot answer that question right now. I will have to ask her about it later when she is in a better mood. Perhaps Grandpa went east when he was younger and told Mom a story about it. I wish I could ask Mom about this, maybe later in the week or the month.