A little bit of good news

GothicGremlin

A couple of months ago Peggy started having a lot of anxiety, so much so that she told me that she was afraid of everything and that she couldn't do anything. We started her on an anti-depressant, and it's made a world of difference. She's back to doing memory care activities, particularly karaoke (which she loves).

This last week she's looked really good.  I got together with one of her friends (who visits about three times a week) and he said that she looks like his friend again.  That was so good to hear.

I kind of feel like we're in a bit of a lull, so I'm using the time to get some things done that I've put off doing.

Is Peggy going to get better? Nope. Is she going to continue to decline? Yep. But for right now, in this moment, she's doing okay, she looks good, and her general mood is good.

I'll take it.

SusanB-dil

Gotta love good news! That is great GothicG

thanks for sharing.

MN Chickadee

The lulls are so great. Once in a while we get these little pay offs for all the despair and grief and work. I hope you are able to take some time to breathe and catch up on life and self care.

M1

Glad for you GG.  Hope you have a chance to catch your breath.

Marp

So glad you found something that works, even for a little while.  We all need these short breaks.

GothicGremlin

Thanks, you guys. I know I enjoy seeing someone else's good news thread when I hit a rough patch in caregiving. So I figured I'd share mine. 

May flowers

What a blessing that is and thank you for sharing it. We need a thread of happy stories! We just went through a few weeks of the most alert, pleasant, and communicative time with my FIL, and it is a treasure. Nighttime was particularly funny because he has been mischievous and silly. He would grab my hand and giggle and say, “I got you!”. He laughed out loud and said “No he can’t” when I told DH could finally read (DH struggled in school and this was an ongoing joke in their family). He rolled his chair over by me once to hold my hand. We were finished saying grace at dinner and he kept his eyes closed and DH asked him if he fell asleep and he said he was still praying. I gave him a snack with chocolate in it and asked if he liked chocolate and he said “Always”. Lots of little wins. 

He started fading again yesterday, but I really cherish it. At first I was afraid of enjoying the good because of waiting for the other shoe to fall, but I have decided to fully enjoy the moments and tuck away this memories to reflect on.

When my mom had ALS, it was a horrible disease and struggle, but I also had some of the sweetest moments in my entire lifetime with her and I choose to remember those times.