Dementia for 2

I went to see my grandmother last night. I was very glad that she felt like getting up. It was good to see her in such good spirits. Her cough is about the same in severity but the frequency of it comes and goes.

The Dr. has put her on Prednisone for 10 days along with her breathing treatments for the pneumonia. Since this is a steroid, I am glad it is only for 10 days.

My mom and I want to decorate her room for Easter so she can keep up with the time of year, so I found some window clings to put on her window. It is hard to find decorations that are not stuffed animals or those plastic eggs. If any of you have any ideas I would really appreciate hearing them!

I have learned something new about this disease that I feel the need to share. Apparently, you can go either way with this symptom as I have seen both extremes. My grandmother has lost the ability to cry. There is nothing wrong with her tear ducts, she just doesn't know how to cry. I thought this was a body function that you could not control like breathing. But, as I observe the other women in the nursing facility, I see women who cry all the time, and women who never cry not even when in pain. This can make things very difficult for you the caregiver. If your loved one cries all the time, you don't know when it is a painful cry and when it is just crying. For me, the opposite is true. It is hard to tell when she is in pain because she seems to have lost the ability to feel pain in some areas and not in others. The fact that she no longer cries, makes it even more difficult to tell when she is hurting.

I have contacted pneumonia twice in my life so I know how incredibly painful the cough is. You try not to cough because of the pain that comes with the cough. Sitting up helps but nothing takes away the pain.

We just have to remember that Granny cannot talk about her symptoms and it is up to us to decipher what is going on. I am reminded of the old saying about coming into this world as a baby and leaving it as a baby. The more time I spend with her, the truer this is for me.