Not quite the plan

on finding my groove as a 30 something single girl and caregiver for mom with dementia

Tag Archives: laughter


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A little hospital fun.

We are in the hospital. Scary and probably just the first of many trips with her to come.

What is interesting is that as of tonight, Mom is having a great time! She had to go down for an mri tonight which obviously called for ice cream bribery. Hey, it works.

Then, Mom managed to make friends with the woman who rolled her down for the test who apparently caregives for her mom with dementia. (We are like a club!) We were cracking jokes that didn’t make sense all through the hopsital. Mom so enjoyed laughing together that she declared at the end of the mri outing that she was having a lot of fun.

I was amused when she then told the mri operator that I am a very positive person. Mom was the one cracking jokes and telling me she was having fun just one day into a stressful hospital experience. I am deeply grateful for her ability to stay upbeat, even if it’s partly a result of ice cream.

Let’s give positivity points where they are due!


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YouTube!

Sometimes I find myself struggling  for activities that are more creative for Mom.  The other night she was feeling quite talkative after a long week in which I did not have a lot of time for her, so I was trying to make it a quality bonding evening.

Unfortunately, her stories can be hard to follow.  After listening to four attempts to tell me stories that were all slightly mystifying, including a moment of asking me whether I had ever met her husband (that would be my father!), I decided that we needed a new activity.  As we had chatted we had been watching and discussing my cat whose antics provide a lot of entertainment to Mom.  In watching my cat, I was suddenly reminded of the quality entertainment that is the crazy cat video on YouTube.  I pulled out my computer and we watched two different crazy cat videos to Mom’s absolute delight.  She was particularly amused by a ridiculous  series of cats sliding/ leaping into cereal boxes that was quite new to me.  It was wonderful to see the most genuine laughs I had gotten from Mom in months.  It used to be easier to get her laughing quickly and whether it has been my busy-ness or her declining communication abilities, there is a bit less laughter around our house.

YouTube is definitely going on my list of good activities for us.  It will be an interesting project to dig up some of the creative videos out there, so suggestions are welcome.  There is a quite a world of entertainment that Mom has yet to experience…