Day at the dentist

***** Five stars given to my father for a stellar performance and enduring patience during his adventure to the dentist with my mother. About two weeks ago, my mother placed her partial in a very undisclosed area of the house. The only being privy to the location was her dog Daisy. Unfortunately, Daisy has some issues with partials and decided to remodel them for mom by removing all the teeth. After much persuasion, we were able to talk mom into getting yet another pair. Phone call at 8:30 from the Dentist office. Mom is extremely distraught due to the number of people and the time that they arrived. She had been up since six waiting on my dad to take her. Unfortunately as luck would have it, Dad arrived a few minutes late causing complete aggression and hostility towards him.

During the wait at the dentist, mom left the building and preceded to hide behind vans, trees, and light posts. As my dad approached her, she started taking off to cross the highway. This is a very busy very dangerous highway and she is moments from dashing out. Luckily, Dad manages to steer her to the sidewalk and as he does, a stranger stops her truck. With tears in her eyes, she talks with mom and it seems to calm her down. Thank you to the lady with enough love to comfort an anxious woman. Dad is able to direct her once again into the dentist office to await help. Many phone calls later and travels to the supermarket and pet supermarket, this adventure is over until this afternoon when the teeth will be ready. Dad, I am sure, is exhausted and it is only the middle of the day.

By 5:30 tonight, Dad was finished. I could hear it in his voice. Not only was mom raving about how horrible the teeth were, but was in extreme pain due to the "butchers". I packed up dinner and was on my way. Thankfully, the little ones distracted her enough to forget about the dentist and concentrate on eating dinner and playing with my daughter. Dad was able to take a few minutes to catch his breath without having to worry about cooking something. He is staying the night there. Hooray. For the past year, he has been in and out of the home. Mom does much better when there is no one there and she has been able to verbalize this. We check in on her several times a day taking shifts at night to spend time with her. Luckily, she does not attempt anything she cannot do-no cooking, showering, driving, cleaning. Being such an avid movie buff has its advantages for us at this time. She can watch movie after movie and as long as she can run the vcr, we are ok. Thankfully she is able to still call with speed dial and still run her tv. It will be a very rough future when either of those go. Sometimes I feel guilty that we do not take her out more than once a week. It is getting to dangerous to go on adventures anymore.

It is days like this when I am grateful for such a dependable and supportive team of caregivers. With the extreme difficulty in caring for my mother, it takes all of us to do it. One would never be able to do it all. In my research and my visiting others with this disease, I have never come across one like her. She is so aggressive, volatile, incapable of surrendering her control to others for help, depressed, mean spirited, and so aware of the disease and what it is doing to her. But I remind myself that although some days are extreme tribulation, I am blessed to be able to spend time with her. Some are not so fortunate, their loved ones are ripped away before they can say goodbye. Our Lord has guided our path and His plan is perfect. Through trusting in Him, I know that I am where I should be and doing what He wants.