Oh what a joy lol, Dementia loves a curveball or six or ten sometimes lol.

MIL was up tonight when Hubby and I had...private time. She was creaking through the steps and I heard her. I went downstairs to fetch my laundry and MIL had turned off my dryer and went through it. First time she's done that.

I forgot to get a trashbag so I went to our door and saw the kitchen light shut off real fast and MIL shuffled back to her room. WHAT in the world is she doing up at 2:30am?

Hubby doesn't like to think it's her but I know since the dryer has a light that says when it's done. The light blinks if you open the door before the cycle ends so I know. I doubt BIL and his fiancee are interested since they never do laundry anyway lol.

Dementia can be so tiring sometimes, yikes. Thanks for letting me rant.

Katrina

I'm sorry Katrina, you're right, AD is tiring, good way to put it. It just keeps changing doesn't it, and always keeps you hopping and wondering what next?

Take care and keep up the good work,

~Kelly~

While my FIL was still alive, DH and I lived downstairs. Our bedroom was right below FIL's. I could hear every creak, rattle and roll as he would get up, talk to his dream people, pad out to the kitchen and bathroom before he would settle back down to sleep. Of course, he never remembered having got up to do anything, but I would find things from his bedroom tucked into places in the kitchen and laundry room. You always had to double check the appliances before you used them just in case he'd stuffed a sock or a dirty hankie into the casings.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the replies!

It is a crazy life of a caregiver, that's for sure. I remember it was about a month ago and I was cooking, MIL couldn't rest so every 5 minutes she'd open her door and close it real fast. I think I could of set the food by that, I didn't need a timer lol!

Thanks again!

Kat

Oh gosh. MIL was up at 3-3:30 every day when she came to our house a few months ago. That's hard! You have no idea what they might do, you have to get up or at least listen for a while to see if it's a potty call or wandering. She wouldn' t go to bed until 8pm , it made for some really long days. The last time (early June) she only got up once during her stay. It's totally unpredictable. I feel for you!

I wonder sometimes from things that MIL has said in the wee hours if they aren't taking care of unfinished business from their day, be it remembering something they wanted to wear, or an argument they had that day with someone, or dealing with something on the news that scared them. Where most people dream to do it, they get up and get active. I got her back to bed by showing her the stars were still out. May not work at all next time, who knows?

Katrina,
When Bill started getting up during the night, I ended up putting a lock on his bedroom door. I had the video monitor in his room so I could see what he was doing but I didn't have to get up and go find him. The only thing in his bedroom was his bed and a chair. I moved his dresser into the closet so he couldn't remove all the clothes and then I removed the knobs from the bifold doors to his closet to keep him out of there. He did have a bathroom off his room so he could get in there if he had to. But eventually, because he would just go in there and turn the water on and leave it running, I even locked that door so he couldn't get in there.
It shounds cruel, but he never seemed to mind. He would go to the door and try it then knock and ask if anyone was out there, when I didn't answer he would just shrug and walk away from the door. Most of the time she spent smoothing out the blankets on his bed. At times he would work on that bed for hours.. I was awake the entire time he was up but at least I didn't have to get out of my warm bed to keep an eye on him.

It's been four months now and I am forgetting how hard it was to care for him. I found a notebook that I use to write notes to the nurse and the volunteer last week and was reading it. Hard to remember hard it was.

You do anything you can to make it easier on you. That's the only way you will make it. I'll be thinking of you.

Thanks everyone for the replies! I appreciate them!

MIL has been better lately, now she's been vacuuming for hours lol. We got bad news that her brother's cancer has spread to the lymph system and I think that has been weighing on her mind when she remembers it.

Thanks again!

Kat

I still let mom have her dresser in her room and when she wakes up at night she will rummage through the drawers. I put all kinds of things in the drawers so there is always new stuff in them (Christmas ornaments, pieces of gum, napkins, some spoons). It actually keeps her occupied in her room (my goal). Of course, I am lying awake across the hall waiting for her to settle down, but like Joyce at least I don't have to get up to see what she's doing.

Lately, she is keeping her Barbie (yes, she now has a Barbie) in her room and if she wakes up she will brush Barbie's hair.

You are daring howdy. I hope the Christmas ornaments are non breakable and I hate to think where the gum would end up if I'd tried that. The napkins, I know what would have happened with those. They would have been folded into the tinest square.
Bill would entertain himself with a deck of cards. Sorting, shuffling and stacking them in little piles. He would play with his cards all day long.

I hope things have settled down Kat. Probably not, but you eventually adjust to it like you do with every other phase.

Thanks for the posts!

Her sundowning hasn't gotten that bad again but today was a doozie lol, it's worthwhile of it's own thread. Thanks for asking!

Katrina

Cards! I'm going to put a deck of cards in one of the drawers, I just have to find them. Thanks, Joyce.

Because I work afternoons, mom doesn't normally go to bed until 2 or 3 a.m. like I do. BUT, I need to start sending her to bed earlier - at 2 a.m. almost every night now, she cries and says she misses her sisters. I sure wish her sisters would call once in a while. I always tell her we can't call them in the middle of the night, but when I ask if she wants to talk to them the next day she will always say no.

The drawers full of presents is brilliant. I will tuck that one away in my mind for a future day...

What a way to live. I really hope things settle down for you soon. As you may know mom's "major" sundowing episode netted us a broken wrist and a HUGE cast. Do what you need to do to make things easier on both of you and keep on smiling.

About your mom's sisters. Mom has a brother that she hasn't seen in over a year and hasn't called at all during that time. Now I'm afraid he is way tooooooooo late. The last few day she hasn't been talking at all.

Have a great day no matter what the big A brings.