Mom and Dad: Frozen drinks, hot days, and Snickers

Sometimes, the facility makes these delicious frozen smoothies for the residents. Dad thinks they are milkshakes and we let him. Mom thinks they are very healthy and we let her.
On one occasion, Dad was slurping down his frozen drink much faster than he should have. Suddenly he was stricken with ‘ice cream headache’ and a very cold chest.
“Something’s wrong!” he gasped, clutching his chest. His nose ran, his eyes watered, and he looked terrified. I leapt out of my chair and hurried to his side, wiping his nose and eyes, rubbing his hand over his chest, trying to make eye contact to comfort him.
Soon the discomfort was gone; and the memory of the cause gone with the pain. Trying to keep him from drinking more too fast only resulted in being scolded to leave his drink alone!
And soon he was in distress again.
Luckily they make each drink a fairly small serving, so the frozen treat only attacked twice. He never did make the connection between cold drink and painful head and chest. On the other hand, he also didn’t remember the fear and pain from either event.

We had an appointment to go to later in the afternoon, but I had some errands to run. It was so hot that I decided to leave them at the facility while I ran errands. I assured Mom that I would be back in time to take them to their appointment and would even call to let her know that I was on my way back to pick them up so they could start heading for the door to watch for my arrival.
Apparently, soon after I left, she returned to their room to get ready to go. She loaded her cell phone into her purse and waited with Dad at the entrance. Every so often she’d call me to see how much longer before I got there. It took me a few phone calls to figure out that they were actually sitting there at the entrance waiting for me. I couldn’t convince her that they had plenty of time to get involved in an activity, take a nap, watch some TV, water their flowers – it would be at least 2 hours before I returned.
They waited in the entrance. And waited. And waited.

When I finally returned to get them, Mom was full of interesting conversations she’d had with so many people! Everyone who came through those doors remarked on how hot it was outside. Mom said, “They’d come in and say, ‘Wow, it’s hot out there!’ and we were sure glad not to be sitting out in it!” Moments later, she’d tell me of another person coming through the doors, “They’d come in and say, ‘Wow, it’s hot out there!’ and we were sure glad not to be sitting out in it!”
She repeated the telling of this remarkable phenomenon from the front door of the facility, during the car ride, in the waiting room, and into the exam room. When the Doctor came in, she told him, too! Three times!
And then she laughed and said, “It was funny hearing that over and over again!”
I silenced a snicker.

Snickers are tears wrapped in chocolate, aren’t they?

Tags: Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's care, caregiver, caring for elderly parents, elder care, senior care