Not my mom.

At the hospital, there is this person, she looks a lot like my mom. She has my mom's voice. But suddenly, she is not my mom. My mom is very easy going. This lady is getting upset about every little thing. My mom is trusting and appreciative. This imposter is accusing the nurses of trying to poison her. This strange, sad, person, can't remember from one minute to the next, what I just said.

One small week ago, my mom knew what my work schedule was. She knew what town I was going to be working in, and what night I stayed in the City. This person does not know if it is day or night. This person doesn't understand that the phone in the hospital doesn't work like her phone at home.

One small week ago, my mom could hold a conversation with me about the weather, was I busy at work? ....what she had for supper....now she is just repeating and fidgeting....

On Monday night, my mom (or this imposter) had to be sedated, because she was causing a ruckus in the hospital. The hospital did a bunch of additional tests, in case she was in pain and wasn't able to communicate that. All the tests came back normal. They took Xrays. Normal. And her sodium is just about back to normal. But my mom is not normal. I just reviewed the stages of Alzheimer's (available on www.alz.org) and it appears that my mom may have just jumped off the cliff, from "Stage 5 with a teensy bit of Stage 6 once in a while", to "smack dab right in to Stage 6". There are only 7 stages.

I'm terrified. I'm not ready for this. I'm just not. I am praying that this is a situation that she can improve from, at least a little...it's got to be.