Halloween

My joke for today was that my mom was her own Halloween costume: angry old woman who wants to chop you up with a knife.

By the time I got to her place this afternoon she had been raging for hours -- breaking furniture (no really), swearing, hitting. My sister called me to see what could be done about her episode of mania and wanted to have her taken to the hospital. She was sad to hear that you can't have someone committed unless they are a danger to themselves or others. Because mom is pretty useless from the waist down, all someone has to do is to step away from her and they're safe. Sadly she doesn't fit the criteria for hospitalization. We would all love it if she'd get locked up permanently but that's not going to happen. The only thing I could do to change things was to leave work and go over there to try to interrupt the mania.

By the time I left her, mom was feeding me chocolates. Whew. And in between, I draped my arm over her shoulder on the sofa and patted her leg while she told me how she wasn't going to leave me anything in her will. Except maybe a little stuffed scarecrow that's in a potted plant in her room. "Isn't it cute?" I suddenly had an image of having her cremated with it if she loves that thing so much, and I burst out laughing.

I admit that I baited her a bit for part of my visit, because I'm tired of being nice. She kept saying that she knew something about me that the caregiver didn't know: that I like to fuck, and that if she were dead I could do it wherever I want. So then I made a game out of pointing out various places in her room, asking "Should I do it there?" "Over here where you're sitting?" This was amusing to our caregiver, and that was partially the point -- she definitely needed some levity.

But today started out even better, this morning, with an apology from my sister that we need fill-in help for one of the caregivers in a week, and that she'd forgotten to tell me. She wrote it down on one of her pieces of paper and lost it. And she was so proud that she'd started a new paper calendar but put it in a place so special that she couldn't find the calendar (like why would you tack it to the wall, or anything normal like that?). She was so distressed by her failings this morning that she was taking a pill to feel better. I told her that pills were good but calendars were better and she needs to start using our effing shared Google calendar. I know she can do it!

This is after the weekend, where I started planning caregiving for the holidays, and my sister told me of her plans. She's been invited to Christmas at our nephew's house, and she's thinking of taking my mom with her. Out of her secure locked mental environment, on a 3 hour drive to a relative's house where they will share the holiday with family? I mean what could go wrong? This is partly because I said I wouldn't take care of my mom on Christmas myself, but the cure may be worse than the original affliction...

This has been mrsguy's late night ramblings about her embarrassing family.