Gidgey wanted to have lunch with Nana

So, we packed it up and went over to Sunrise.

We also brought Lego's.

Mother/Daughter Camping Trip

I haven't posted in a while because Sunny and I went on our first mother daughter camping trip at camp hollywoodland!  It was so much fun. I loved camp when I was little, and Sunny loved it too.

Baking a Cake

Ellen sent me this great picture of Peggy baking a cake!!

Sunny's a Girl Scout

We stopped by Nana's to show her Sunny's new "DAISY" uniform.  Peggy applauded!  It was so wonderful to see her have the emotion of pride.  It really made Sunny happyand proud too.  Sunny hugged some people, and they all responded to her so nicely without the distraction of our little Gidget.....and I mean that all in a good way.

Happy Spring Day

Daffodowndilly

Daffodowndilly
She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour:
                                    "Winter is dead."




Sunny brought daffodils to Sunrise today.  She was wearing a yellow spring coat and bounced the yellow ball with Peggy.  Growing up I remember this was our favorite poem by A.A. Milne, I even recited it at the grade school talent show.... she didn't remember what the flowers were called when we gave them to her, 
but I did.

"Lois Loves Allen and Allen Loves Lois and I Love Allen"

We rolled Peggy to dinner tonight.  We like to go to Hugo's restaurant which is right by Sunrise, so Allen met us there and I thought it might be easier to walk with Nana in her chair.  I was pretty stressed, because the street is SO busy and we have to cross quite a few and go under a highway, the girls held hands as I held on to the wheelchair, Sunny bent down to pick up a dime crossing and I really yelled at her like a fearful mother lion protecting her cub.  I hate the cars in LA!  

 Peggy and I sat across the table from Allen, who sat between the girls.  All she could talk about was how much the girls loved him as they squirmed around in their chairs and acted like robots and dropped  things, and poked Daddy.  And I kept scolding them to sit down, and be polite and all that mother lion stuff.  Peggy doesn't always remember the details, but she does know emotions (and to take the butter knife away from the two year old) and she knew that we are a happy family, and instead of being stressed about the restaurant,  I saw my world through her eyes, and smiled when she said

 "Lois loves Allen and Allen loves Lois, and that's all there is to it."

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Five Foods That Might Help Prevent Dementia, Cancer and Heart Disease

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Five Foods That Might Help Prevent Dementia, Cancer and Heart Disease

Beets!

Sardines!

Curcumin?

Pumpkin!

Cinnamon!

A St. Patrick's Day to remember

Today was a really fun day! Here are the Peggy's dancing to Bing Crosby singing Peg O' My Heart.  

And Sunny jumped in with an Irish jig all her own.



And for even more green fun click here....
A St. Patrick's Day to remember

Peggy Lu is here!!

I am so happy, but my feet are even happier!!!  We stole away to Happy Feet, a foot massage place to get some  relaxation and stress release.  It was so fun, I felt like crying when we sat down.  I love Peggy Lu, she cares so much, and we feel the same way about Peggy and it is just such a relief to have her here, even for just a little while....

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Looking for Meaning Behind the Words

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Looking for Meaning Behind the Words

I really love this article on how to relate to dementia. Check it out.

Paul came to visit!

And he finally came for his clothes!  Thanks for visiting Paul, you made her day.  

and Gidgets!

Reading

Yesterday the girls and I went over to Peggy's after school.  My mom was in such a good mood.  She is feeling so much better, hasn't had vicadin for 4 days and didn't complain of any pain.  As a matter of fact, when we called David and he asked her about her fall, she insisted that she never fell and had NO idea what he was talking about.  The up side to alzheimer's.

Peggy really engaged with Gidget today reading books on the couch.  She looked at me and said,"Your so nice, and good to me"  I told her, it's because I had a good Mom.

And then I found this picture of Peggy reading to Sunny when she was one....6 years ago, and I think of her reading to me when I was little, and well...that's how it goes.  I have a good Mom.

Sunny and Gidget were here

Virtual candlelight rally

I lit a virtual candle for my mom today. Here is your chance to double your giving in the battle against alzheimer's.
I urge you to join me and visit the Alzheimer's Association today!

Bouncing Balls

So, we stopped at a toystore on the way to Peggy's.  We have some birthday's coming up, and well...why not.  We love toys.   They had these great rubber balls in really bright colors.   Real rubber, not the princess or Dora plastic kind.  The girls loved them, so I thought they might like them at Sunrise too.  They sure did.  We were all bouncing and catching and banging them around.  It was amazing, everyone was smiling.  I was a little nervous..."don't play ball in the house" kept going through my head.  But it really engaged some of the residents, who usually aren't.  I think we might even be able to start our own team.  The Studio City Suns!

By the way... stopping the Galantamine stopped the runny nose.

Goodbye Everyone

Goodbye Everyone

watch Gidgey say goodbye to all her friends at Sunrise. 

This lady here used to be an art professor at UCLA

Forgetting about the pain

Sunday I used a McDonald's chocolate shake
to get my mom up and out of bed.

Today I used Gidget.

Peggy Fell Down...

She's okay.  She's sore.  She's upset.  Nothing is broken.  Probably a muscle pull or strain.  We were up on the 3rd floor to go to a Mardi Gras party downstairs.   Sunny got all dressed up, she loves a party or just to have a chance to wear lipstick.  Peggy was on the couch, the other's were starting to go down.  She always says "not right now" if anyone asks her to do something, but usually we can get her to move, sometimes.   She got up slowly, she was a little unsteady... so we got her walker and she held on.  I turned around, and she let go...

She yelled and said things like "oooooh we broke our back", and "why is this happening to us", and "it hurts" and "we're scared and don't like this".  She wouldn't let any of us touch or move her.  Sunrise called the paramedics, I called my dear friend Jacki who came and got Sunny in minutes.  I was stuck, my mom's head was on my lap, and Sunny saw the whole thing.  So she ran into Nana's room, and made her a feel better card...and went home with Jacki.

We went to St. Joe's.  They had to give her an iv for the pain meds, because she wouldn't lay on her back to take the x-ray.  Her position, her veins and her brain were not cooperating.  The fifth time with the help of 2 RN's they got it in her.  The fifth time I looked at one of them and said "I hate to tell you this, but I don't feel so good."  and almost passed out?!!  I sat down, had some water, let Peggy's pain medicine do it's job and shaped up.  She went in for lots of x-rays, Jacki brought me a sandwich.  Don't you guys all wish you had a Jacki in your life?  I'm so lucky.  And the doctor said, try and get her up and dressed and she can go home with a prescription for vicadin.  Really?  You want us to get her up when she wouldn't even let us touch her?  Okay?  Well, she did it, she didn't even remember she fell, she was just really really tired.  We got her a wheel chair, and we got her in the car.  Alla was waiting for me with another wheel chair it was 12:30, and I asked her if she thought I should come up, she said.   "I think your children need you now, goodnight."  And I felt lucky, again, this dumb disease and this horrible thing that's happening to my mom, made me feel lucky.  Lucky to have all these wonderful people in the world to help us through it all.

I wish I had my camera!

I was going to go to the park with Gidgey today...thought maybe I'll take Nana too.....I was excited to use my new parking pass for her.

We get there, and they were all exercising!  My mom was in purple and counting up and down.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10!!  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1!!! "And that's all" Peggy would say every time.

Sandy had them all going, I helped, they were moving in all kinds of directions.  Then Sandy put on the dancing music.... I got a little dizzy.  Lots of energy in the room.  Everyone joined in and helped everyone participate.

Peggy was happy in her world, she was happy to see us.  We said goodbye, see ya later!!!
And we went to the park.

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Cleveland Clinic and Cleveland Art Museum Team Up for Alzheimer's Program

Alzheimer's Reading Room: Cleveland Clinic and Cleveland Art Museum Team Up for Alzheimer's Program

Runny Nose and Galantamine

Peggy has developed a runny nose over the past few weeks.  It's driving her crazy.  We went and talked to Dr. Stern about lots of things yesterday and I brought this up.  He thinks it's the Galantamine, or Reminyl or some other name they used to call it.  (As if it isn't hard enough to keep all the drugs and side effects and combinations straight they constantly change the names of them!) A running nose verses a delaying memory loss.  In our opinion Peggy's memory is not going to improve, but we can give her some peace from that constant drip that drive's her crazy.  So, no more Galantamine for two weeks and see if that stops the aggravating nasal drip.

Paul McCartney

I usually stop at Whole Foods before we visit Peggy.  Flowers, smoothies, healthy snacks and today I picked up this live album for the floor...for all of us.  The people that work there, the visitors, the residents, the air, the carpet, the mood.  Sandy said she felt like she was on rollerskates as she was wiping residents mouths and serving food and managing the two gals that really wanted to go "out" for lunch, and smiling.

My V Allen tine

Tonight, we spent Valentine's Day at Sunrise.  This is my husband Allen.  This is why I love him so much.  Tonight, instead of a romantic dinner for two, he went with us to Sunrise to celebrate. This is a photo of him, letting Gidget comb his "hair" in the dress-up part of the Alzheimer's floor.  I'm sitting next to my Mom, in a fluorescent lit room decorated with paper hearts while an Elvis impersonator sings Karaoke songs to her.  When I looked over and saw them, I felt like this was the most romantic valentine's day anyone could ever have.

Click here to see more pics of our romantic dinner