My Mommy

A Daughters Journey

Wow where do I start? Well I would say in the year of 2003. This is when everything changed for my mother and she began to decline in many ways.

During my father’s illness with emphysema he was consuming several medications all of which my mother knew well. What their interactions were, the doses, time for each dose to be taken, mommy knew it all.

February 13, 2003 my father passed away and it was the worse day of our lives. I flew home from Arizona to Chicago to plan and attend my father’s funeral. During this time while home other than being stricken with grief, I did not notice anything unusual about her. Not only did she have to contend with the loss of her husband but she hip replacement surgery to recover from as well.

Later on during the year is when the calls started coming about mommy’s behavior. Repeating things over again, misplacing belongings, and forgetting things, was reported to me that my mother was doing on a daily basis. At the time my daughter was living with her and noticed these behaviors as well as other family members. I told myself that her actions were due to her age and grief and it was not as serious as that and not to worry.

My cousin spoke to me about her and mentioned I should consider a nurse to come in to help her while my daughter was not home. Well my mother did not like that idea at all having the nurse around but she soon began to accept the help. The nurse now began to call with progress reports of my mother in which confirmed what my family was telling me. She tests her driving skills as well and she got lost just from going around her home. I needed to plan a trip; it was time for me to go home.