Lola Channels Joe

Whoo Boy! Today was a wild ride. Lola has been channeling Joe for the last 24 hours. It's not been pretty. Actually, if it wasn't sad, it would have been downright hilarious.

The short of it is that mother barely slept a wink last night. She was up early and falling. She wouldn't stay in her chair. She talked wild all day long. She hallucinated. She also had 4 BMs in the Depends. She wore me out.

Without going into a exquisite detail of the day, here's the gist. Lola wouldn't go to sleep last night. She kept talking, and talking. The last time I remember looking at the clock, it was 5 a.m. She woke me up at 8:30 a.m. wide awake and chipper. And promptly toppled right over, walker and all.

I got her up from the floor by keeping the walker on its side, getting her on her knees, and between the 2 of us, she managed to get to her feet. Fortunately, she was by her chair. Which she managed to climb out of while it was in full recline with the foot rest up. Well, of course, her underwear was filthy, and she'd had a BM - I could tell by the smell.  I asked her to take the pants and underwear off while I went to get all the gear I'd need.

When I came back, she'd taken a tumble and was laying on the floor in front of the chair with her head resting against the TV. I got her cleaned up, in fresh clothes, and very firmly put her back in the chair telling her to go to sleep because we'd only had 3 hours of sleep.

She woke me up at 11:30 standing by the sofa. She'd been to Paducah, and Theda was worried about me. Criminy. I could smell another BM, and gave it up and got up. Again, I got her cleaned up and sitting in her chair watching TV. The whole time she babbled about being in Paducah with Joe and visiting Theda. Right.

While she sipped on tomato juice, I came into the den and swilled coffee while watching "Morning Joe" online. About 12:30 I couldn't keep my eyes open (3 hours of sleep) and lay down in the recliner in the den. Thirty minutes later I woke up to a slamming door. Lola had gotten up and closed the front living room door. What she has against open doors, I have no clue. It's been a beautiful day today.

I got her sat down again, and got another cup of coffee. In a few I decided to get us a meal and went into the kitchen. After stuff got going, I went into the living room to get her dentures, and she was gone. Discovered her in the bathroom. She'd had another BM. No, it wasn't in the toilet, it was in her pants, and all over her hands, and the toilet, and her clothes. Joy, joy, happy, happy.

She finally was all clean again. When I brought her meal to her, she told there were the cutest little green animals walking across the chair and the bottom of her pajama shirt. We spent the rest of the day with me keeping an eagle eye on her and having to stop her from getting up a few times. Normally it's been a good thing when she wanted to get up. But today, after 2 falls, and her recent weakness, I just wanted her stay put.

This is the way Joe's precipitous decline began - him talking nonsense and refusing to stay in a chair and taking 5 falls in one day. After the 5th I called the ambulance and took him to the hospital. He never came home again.

For over two years, I've invited Lola to come join me in the den. She's never done so in all that time - until today. About 7 p.m. in comes Lola tottering on the walker. She wanted to sit in the green chair. It's shades of pink and maroon, like almost every friggin thing in this house.

So for over an hour Lola sat in the den and babbled total nonsense. She'd been to Paducah to see Theda, and after that, she'd gone to visit in Jeanne in Waverly, TN. She kept talking about Joes, but couldn't differentiate between Joe Lindsey and Joe Dreaden. And I think she had my husband Max, all mixed up with a Joe. I fed her while she was in here, and gave a snack after an hour. When I came back from getting the snack, she told me a white cat hooked up to a wagon had raced through the room.

Finally, she said she had to excuse herself and go to the bathroom. On the way to the bathroom she remarked on all the blues in the rug, which, of course, is pink. In the bathroom, you guessed it, another BM. Again, not in the toilet. She has gone through 4 pairs of pajamas in 36 hours. When I got her out of the bathroom, she went to the living room chair, and I reclined it. Finally, about 10:40 p.m. she went to sleep.

Please, just let her sleep through the night.