My Best Friend.. Mom..... with dementia

This photo I took when she just answered her door. She was so happy to see us.

This photo was when they had a country singer coming to the dining room to sing songs he knows they like to hear. She was loving every moment.

We went for a walk and she wanted me to see where her and Kathy were going to plant the flowers once Kathy goes and buys them. She was hoping that Kathy will buy some yellow flowers. So the next day I brought her some yellow daisies for her apartment. She used to take such good care of her plants. She has a green thumb, but the yellow flowers I got her died quickly because she forgot to water them. So now I take silk flowers and put water in the vases for her.

Here she is thinking again. She gets into these moods and its like she has left us for awhile.

She loves her front door. She loves seeing her angels and her pretty wreathe she keeps telling us.

The last few years we have been dealing with my best friend... my mom with dementia. The doctor told us she has  had it for many years, but just realized it a few years ago. It is so hard to see each day your parent not remembering things , being forgetful, not eating, having anger issues, and not wanted to be corrected. Mom was such a strong lady with such a big heart for everyone.and now she is a rebel teenager not following rules.

 We moved her from Allen Park to Canton about nine years ago. We wanted her closer to all of us, and it was rough for awhile but each day she started to enjoy living in Canton.As the years quickly went , we saw Mom's dementia getting worse. We had to move her to a safe environment and was hoping to move her in with us. We had such a great idea that she could move into our third level of our house, and make it in an apartment for her. When we told her doctor what plans we had he quickly told us it was not a healthy answer for her or for us.

 Four weeks ago we moved her into American House into her studio apartment.We surprised her and told her that the doctor wanted her to move into this awesome apartment. Mom went along with us, and seems to adjusting each day in this new environment. Mama Lucy is making new friends, and everyone seems to love her. She is on the third floor right now and we are hoping that Kathy will soon be bringing her to the first floor which is closer to all the different activities. Mama Lucy has a friend named Sherry that helps her to get from the third floor to the first.There are days that Mama Lucy does not want to come down to eat, and thats okay. We all have those days and we just want to be left alone so we can understand when she has those days. She still has a problem taking a shower, and keeping her dirty clothes in the hamper. Mama Lucy still eats like a little baby bird but loves her cokes, and Milkyways.

The second week at American House, she got a very short haircut. She did not like the look on her but the more people told her how cute she looked, she started to like the look. Enclosed are a few photos I took of her during the month of May being at American House.