Update 12/13/11

From S-

• Just catching up on last week. As stated in an earlier post, Mom's house lost power and they had to run a new line fromthe transformer to her house. In the process of doing that, they cut the phone and cable. The phone was fixed with a couple of days. The cable's still not fixed. We need to coordinate cable repair with Ruth's schedule. Mom can't be there alone when the workers are near.
• Mom really didn't understand there not being any power. She kept commenting on how dark it was, and she didn't understand why. She kept wanting to go back home. When I would ask her what was wrong with her house, and why she couldn't go home, she said she didn't know.
• The final straw came Saturday morning. I had to go over there so the electrician could re-do some of the work. Mom woke up while I was there, and she came out of her room holding the bath rug, saying something was wrong. When I went back to check, the bathroom was flooded because the toilet had overflowed. I fixed it and cleaned up most of it, and Isabel came over to finish up the job. Again, Mom didn't understand. she was crying, holding my hand up to her cheek, asking me if she was about to die. She kept asking what was wrong with her. She said she wanted to see her grandkids before she died. It took her a while to stop crying. Even then, she couldn't separate the messed up bathroom from her health. Somehow, to her, the two were related. With the failure of all utilities within one week, I think we dodged more than a couple of bullets. Luckily, someone was with her at each of those failures. (Thanks again Nancy, for staying with her overnight).
  
• Please note that Ruth wasn't there Tuesday (the day to which the comments below are attributable). She had a doctor's appointment. Since she wasn't there Tuesday she'll be coming in this Friday.
  
• Tonight (Tuesday), when I went over there to give her dinner, she asked if the lights were fixed. She asked this while the dining, breakfast, and kitchen lights were on. She was really wondering why the den lights weren't on. I told her to turn the lights on, but she didn't know how. She kept using the pull string. Eventually (maybe 45 seconds or so), she finally hit the wall switch.
• I also noticed (call me CSI Steve) that there was a dirty glass bowl on the counter. Next to the bowl was a sugar dispenser (of the tall cardboard cylinder variety). Inside the bowl was sugar mixed with water. It had mostly dried, so it was caked along the bottom and along one side. There was no cereal crumbs in there, nor did this look like like milk. It appeared that she had just mixed sugar and water - a lot of sugar. Ruth had not been there to feed her, and although I had left mom a sandwich, I suppose she wanted something sweet.
• Mom also told me that she had been alone all day. A few minutes later, she told me that Nancy had come by the house to get a few things.
  
• Mom also told me that she was very angry with Isabel because Isabel wants to take her to the doctor. Mom stated that there was nothing wrong with her. She had no pains anywhere and that she never complained of anything that would cause us to have to take her to the doctor. I stepped outside to look at the address to make sure I was at the right house.
  
• She continues to just lay on the couch or in bed, without even turning on the tv.
  
• Mom complained to me about Ruth today (I'm done with Tuesday - I'm now discussing what happened today). When I asked her why she didn't like Ruth, she pointed out that she had not said she didn't like Ruth, just that Ruth was different. Mom thinks that, based on her eyes, Ruth must be from a different country. Interestingly, last week, Mom told Lindy that she liked Ruth. Ruth was nice. And Mom didn't really like being alone all day.