A Backward Turn towards Fear--Being the Accused "She's the One"

 as Reported by Suzy June 11, 2011

Well, guys, I'm afraid she wasn't doing so well today. She's taken a turn. When I got there, she was in a filthy nightgown, and Kay said mean things to her. Mother tried to keep the peace, but afterwards, she perseverated on the roommate and how mean she is and what can she do, but in a very disorganized manner. (With psych patients they use the word disorganized in terms of thoughts.)

She was quite confused tonight, and saying a lot that didn't make any sense at all. She was anxious, and she kept saying how scared she is.

She and I were sitting at the big table in the dining room, and when an aide brought Kay in for dinner, when Kay passed Mother, she said “She's the one” in an accusatory voice, and the aide said we'll talk about it later, and said to me over his shoulder that they weren't getting along.

I would very much like Mother to be able to have a different roommate. I even have to wonder how much of this turn she's taken is due to Kay's being so mean and Mother not having the capability to handle it. Although I realize it may not be connected. Still, how horrible for Mother.

We did work on a crossword puzzle in a new book I brought her, and she came up with some good answers. And I bought her a... I don't know the name for it... the kind of pillow you sit up in bed with that has the arms. I was just crazy about it, both b/c I knew it would work so well for her to have that as I've seen her trying to be comfortable sitting up with regular pillows and its not working that well, but also b/c it's so cute. The fabric is super soft and fuzzy like a bear. I had hoped she'd love it, but while at least she accepted it (rather than asking me to take it away because her roommate might be envious), she wasn't in the kind of mental condition to be able to focus on anything besides her fears. Except, thankfully, for the half hour or whatever it was we worked on the puzzle. That seemed to distract her, or at least she wasn't sharing anything about feeling scared during that time, but she was anxious and a bit rude to Ada who came over to socialize. Poor Mother. I hope tomorrow is a better day for her.

And I hope she can get a new roommate.