Friday, August 31, 2012

Seeing Things That Just Aren't There

So I talked to my dad for a while this afternoon. He sounded really good. Here's what he said about mother. Mother has now been on Depicote for a few weeks. She's up to twice per day. Daddy said she's calmer but she told him she's seeing things that she knows aren't there. She is sleeping good but doesn't go to bed till late and then sleeps till noon. She still seems to get obsessed about things. She thinks Lauren is there. She also goes to the guesthouse to tell granny about family. I'm just so sad to be losing my mother to FTD. It is horrible.

James and I went walking last might at one of the middle schools in Georgetown last night. It brought back memories of better days with my mom. She could focus on exercise, carry on conversations and show a little empathy. She's pretty much lost everything. She had complex thought processes and could reason.

Wow...what a difference a few years makes.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Happiness...Today

I feel like I have my mother back...somewhat.

So last week the neurologist recommended a new medication to help slow my mom down a little. Depicote. He called it "brakes". It's an anti-seizure med that is used for a lot of things besides seizures. Anyway, she's only taken two small doses but I can already tell a difference. I can carry on a conversation with her, she went to a party last night and stayed longer than an hour and she hasn't been pacing back and forth for food. She's not quite as OCD. I'm going to try to enjoy every minute with my mom.

I know there are a lot of FTD patients that don't take meds like Namenda or ant-depressants or Depicote because they don't feel like themselves but for the first time in months when I asked my mom how she felt, she said, "I don't feel like I'm going to disappear." This is huge!! I feel like I have my mother back. I'm happy.