An Early Check-up

I decided to check on Lizzie early this morning at the day-program at 10:00. When I arrived she was argumentative with the staff and quite drowsy. They reported to me that she could barely stand up for being so sleepy when she arrived at 9:00, and that they had to "walk" her to keep her awake. I DID NOT LIKE THAT REPORT!

Knowing only that I did not know what all this meant and that I didn't like the sounds or appearance of it, I brought her home with me. Even though it was challenging to get her into the car peacefully, once in and listening to the music she was fine as I expected. She repeatedly asked me if we were going to dinner. GEEZ I hate that question! How many times do I have to say "no", or "later", or "not today", or "you just ate breakfast/lunch" ? UGH!

Once home, she immediately went to her place at the kitchen table and began sorting through the current newspapers. I gave her some water, a snack, and she seemed most content at the least. WHEW! After about an hour, I noticed she perked up and became "more awake" so to speak. In the meantime, I had phoned her caregivers and shared what I and the trainers at Choices had observed. We agreed I should call the physician who prescribed her meds and brainstorm, but I held off on that idea to "observe" my sister's behavior. attitude, emotional state, and general well-being. After a while, I phoned Elizabeth back and asked her if we might try to get Lizzie in bed an hour earlier to give her an opportunity to sleep off the night-time medications before starting her day. We agreed to try that, and she promised me she would begin tonight.

Lizzie became restless after a few hours and wanted to go somewhere. She kept mentioning "the others". Since she seemed to be her normal self again energy wise, I decided to take her back to Choices. In preparing for the ride and to finish the rest of my errands for the day, I put a cherry drink in my purse to relieve me from stress in the heat ... HA HA. As we were walking out the door to the car, I felt something wet on my foot. Lo and behold the drink was leaking in my purse so I told Lizzie to come back indoors so I could check my bag. My drink had soaked everything in my purse, and so I wanted to clean it all up and start with another handbag. As I was doing this, Lizzie stood at the front door and in a whining voice continuously cried out, "Hurry Honey ... don't you know I am waiting?" over and over and over again. I don't know HOW I tuned it out, but I did. It felt like eternity had passed by the time I was ready to go. Once in the car, Lizzie was jamming to the music again.

She did not want to get out of the car initially when we arrived at Choices, but coercing her to do so definitely took less effort than usual. So her new med schedule is calming her mood swings significantly after the sleepiness wears off. Lizzie got settled inside with the gracious assistance of the workers, and before long she had forgotten I was even around. THat's when I slipped out the door.