Day 21

Yesterday, My Dad & I, took Mother to the eye doctor. She has Macular Degeneration and it was time for an injection in both eyes. If we don't do it she could lose her vision except for peripheral. She was up and ready when we got there and happy to see us. She didn't seem to remember that Dad was just there yesterday. We got her in the car with the gait belt but without much help really from her walking/turning, etc. Off we went. Unsure how things were going to go. I could already tell she was a bit irritable but wasn't sure why. She had these injections a few times in the past but she quite possibly could have just had anxiety. She was adamant that she NEEDED one of the Doctor's office pens so I finally gave her one hoping that would give her something to focus on. Wrong. Either way she was impatient and didn't care for the chitter chatter from the other patients in the waiting area. We kept assuring her it would soon be our turn and thankfully they got her in a room! We also were reminding her we were going out for a late lunch afterward but even that didn't seem to change her disposition.

The injections went well. The Doctor seemed quite concerned with the rapid rate of her cognitive decline but I assured him we had seen specialists already and it was a dementia diagnosis. Afterward Mother's eyes were quite sensitive to light and I wish we had remembered her sun glasses. We made it into the car again but she was obviously growing a bit tired because the transfer was even more difficult. She complains about being manhandled but then doesn't do anything to move though either so it's frustrating. Once inside Perkin's restaurant she as I anticipated struggled with making a decision. She has a real hard time recognizing the letters at the eye doctor on the chart I noticed but she can still read. It didn't help that she was having a hard time seeing after the injections too with the menu but the sheer amount of choices overwhelm her. She just becomes more irritable if she's offered suggestions. She fiddled with the gait belt, finally removing it entirely. She wasn't the right distance from the table no matter where we put her transport chair. She didn't want anything to drink but then wondered where her coffee and milk were. She had real trouble cutting her huge pork chop and then didn't care for it at all but tried then eating a piece of the fat that had been removed with her fingers. She ended up just eating the mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and piece of bread along with some of Dad's coffee. It was free pie day so we took her home a piece of caramel apple pie.

Once in the car she kept her eyes closed the entire time I'm assuming from the sun because she was constantly now trying to remove her sweater and pull the potty pad out from underneath her on the car seat. Which just pulled her down further in the seat. I kept trying to assure her she didn't want to do either of those things but she just told me to leave her be. Once back to WestBrook we put her immediately into her bed where she was ready to take a nap. I was told by the nurse that she had a restless night and got up on her own sometime late, tried using her walker I'm assuming to go to the bathroom or to attempt wandering, and fell on her bottom. Thankfully she wasn't hurt they said. My Dad & I think at this point we may be beyond transporting her ourselves and may well need to use a third party people rides service in 6 weeks when she goes back for another injection.