Tomorrow's Sunday, Tomorrow's Sunday

Mom has Sundowner's and it's tough to live with and to watch.  Last night she walked back and forth to her room to make sure it "was still there" 7 times in 10 minutes.  She paces and mumbles and gets a look in her eyes that makes me so sad for her.  She seems scared - I'm sure it's a form of anxiety, but when it's your family - you want to make them feel safe, feel better, feel relaxed.  I have tried everything I can think of and depending on her mood or the severity of her anxiety - there isn't anything I can do.

She is taking a pill at bedtime that has some positive effects - it's not a knock out pill, that can worsen the ALZ and it's not an anti-anxiety medicine - that usually doesn't work on ALZ patients like it does on others.  It's something we are trying with her physician and it seems to make her a bit more relaxed, but not until she is all the way in bed.

We've mastered the bedtime routine - sometimes mom gets a bit creative about it - which can make me nuts or crack me up.  Last night she did everything in the normal order, but she "took the back way" to her room just to keep things interesting.  But when she finally got in bed she was smiling.

Part of the nighttime routine is asking what day it is and looking at her white board that says what day it is and trying to make it all make sense.  Then she asks what day tomorrow is.  Last night after the third time she got a puzzled look on her face and said - "Wasn't there a song about that????  How did that go????" and then she started singing the funniest made-up song ever called....you guessed it...."Tomorrow's Sunday!!!"  It went something like "Tomorrow's Sunday, Tomorrow's Sunday, do-dee-do-dee-dah.  Tomorrow's Sunday, tomorrow's Sunday, la-dee-da-dee-dah!" and then she would giggle and start again.  At one point Peyton came in and started singing along and it didn't even make mom mad.

She sang until she fell asleep and even after she fell asleep she would sort of mumble or hum her new song and smile...it was a really nice way to end the day.