Saturday, December 28th

Mom has continued to have increased reactions to the chemo plus it exacerbated the dementia and we've been faced with paranoia and extreme anger since early yesterday morning.  She refused to take her medications or eat. We were able to get in touch with her doctor and after a long discussion, it was determined discontinuing the chemo would be best. Right after that decision was made our phone rang and it was one of mom's oldest friends, Sister Alexis - a wonderful nun living in Seattle.  She and mom have been friends since high school.  I gave her an update on what was going on and she was so loving and supportive.  I think God sent her a message to give us a call as He knew we would gain strength from her.

Mom's doctor contacted hospice and they came over around 4 p.m. and left at 10:00 p.m.  Her anger and paranoia continued until around 8:30 but finally she calmed down enough to finally eat and take her medication. The nurses that came were wonderful and encouraging. They said what mom is going through is to be expected and suggested respite care for a few days to get her back on track physically and emotionally plus give dad, Mike and me a rest. They will be giving us a call this morning to let us know if they found a bed at respite (difficult to do on weekends), and will be sending us over some new medications, etc.,

We were warned the chemo might make her dementia worse; however, we were not prepared for the magnitude. We've had bad days before but those times we were able to handle it and help mom get through it, but yesterday was totally different.  I know that if mom ever remembered what had transpired she would be mortified.....and for that part of her dementia I am grateful.  She doesn't need to know.  She was given something to keep her calm and help her sleep, and I think last night was the first time Dad slept throughout the night, which is exactly what he needed.  It's been hard on all of us but mostly on dad, he loves her so much and hates to see her like this.  At least mom and dad are with us (as well as Uncle Ray) and as I said before, we have such wonderful moral support from our friends, my son, and cousins, as well as Mike's family. You don't know how much it means to us...and now with hospice, I think we'll all be in a much better place physically and emotionally.  I'm encouraged.