Today my mom was back to sounding like herself. Happy ,perky and cheerful. I am also happy to say that as of recent, my mom is glad when I tell her that Elaine her caregiver is coming. The one thing that never seems to change, is Ruthie saying to me ,"whose Elaine"?
RUTHIE’S STRONG WILL
My mom had stopped driving for quite a while. Her car sat unused in front of her house.The one time that my mom tried to take her car (that would not start) was to vote in November 2008 for Barack Obama. It was quite interesting to see her will. Anyway, if she would have gotten her car to start, she could have been either lost or killed. Some way someone up there was looking after her, or if you ask my mom, with her words of wisdom (till this day) is” when your time is up, your time is up and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
So my mom didn’t get to vote, and at that time she at least was aware of who was running for office, and she wanted to cast her ballot. I think the last time I asked her who was President of the United States she said that good looking guy whose father was from India. Good try mom and close enough!
Ruthie recently said to me “when you are smart you stay smart, and if you are dumb you can get smart”. I’m not sure why she said this, or where her thinking came from. Yet I get a quick out of her and really appreciate that she can still think and say some interesting things. I guess I can say that my mom is still one smart lady!
Every so often my mom can get a little frustrated. This happens rarely and yet when it does she can say to me” don’t quiz me about who’s coming today, just tell me”, and I say “why”, and she answers “because Y is a crooked letter”. We both laugh and I respond by saying,” mom I’m not quizzing you, I’m trying to see if you can remember. It’s Wednesday and Gil is coming to take you out to lunch and food shop”. This is the same thing he does with my mom every Wednesday and yet she can never remember it. I then ask my mom to spell remember and she does so immediately. I then ask her to spell magnificent and aristocratic, and she spells both words correctly. When I have her spell different words she starts to laugh. Ruthie certainly is the spelling Queen. Isn’t the mind /brain fascinating? So mom you cannot remember anything yet you can remember to spell! Does anyone understand this or know the answer?
The other day my mom decided to discuss with me about people’s memories. She says that some people can remember things and others cannot. She then says that it is interesting to her because sometimes you can remember something that you couldn’t remember the other day. She describes it by saying that your memory can come back. I just listen as she speaks. My mom actually is telling this to me as a statement, almost 3rd person. She almost sounds like she is speaking about someone else. I just listen and take it all in.
First in, last out. Spelling was something she learned as a child. Last in, first out. Gil started taking her to eat within the last year or two. You can't learn new things or retain the newer memories in Alzheimers. Memorizing spelling rules is contained in another part of the brain from the part that has short term memory. Just like a computer, short term is lost if not saved in a computer, but the long term stuff programmed into the hard drive stays there even after you turn it off.
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