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Today we visited my Mom. Mom is 90, living in assisted living and she is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s. Even though we were there, it didn’t appear as though she was.

Mom is losing her ability to walk. She has lost her hearing. She is not able to form words. She getting closer to being in total isolation.

When someone gets to this stage, the first assumption made is that they are not aware of anyone or anything. In fact, this is exactly how I felt today when we were with her. What if I am wrong? What if she is seeing me and having complete thoughts? What if her body has failed her and she is trapped inside?

People make this assumption about my daughter because she does not speak or hold eye contact. I am not going to make this same assumption about my Mom. When I held Mom’s hand, she held it tight. Mom is indeed “there”.

When children are small, we catch them when they fall. In our case, my daughter Jessie fell. She fell a lot. She had bruises up and down her shins and everywhere else that made contact with the ground. We caught her when we could. As she got older, rushing to scoop her up seemed to create more drama, so we learned to take her lead. She learned how to pick herself up and keep moving (this does not mean that I ignored her, I just didn’t rush to her in a panic). [Read more…] about Catching them when they fall

Enough.  This is the one word that Jess spoke today on SFY.

She had been sick. This perfectly described her day.

Jessie has many nicknames, one is destructress. You can see the path where she has been.

Last night a package of tin foil popped out of the kitchen cabinet on to the floor. I was working on the computer so didn’t get up. Later Jess walked by, stopped and then proceeded to put this item where it belonged! Is this my daughter?

Just now, when I had finished a chore, she then told me via SFY “good job”. I do appreciate her comment. I appreciate seeing that her awareness level is emerging!

Oh my, now she just complimented herself by saying that she did an amazing job feeding the dog!  This looks to be a good night for conversation.