[TIMELINE:January–February 2022] Despite January’s downward spiral into some weirdness and drama, I thought we were holding things together pretty well. By February, however, the tables had turned—and in a very bad way. Just like during the “walker incident” a few weeks earlier, we needed multiple members of Team Peggy to figure out what was going on … Read more
[TIMELINE: January 2022] The first week of January started out fairly quiet and calm—but then “Team Peggy” faced a few troubling events in quick succession. The first of these was that my sister forgot what had happened to her beloved cat, Jezebel, who had died more than six months previously. Peggy asked one of her … Read more
[TIMELINE: November 2021–January 2022] After being in San Jose for a few days to help move Peggy into memory care—and then our trip back there a few weeks later to help her adjust a bit better—it felt good to return home again and finally de-stress for a minute. But my respite was limited, because talking … Read more
[TIMELINE: OCTOBER 2021] Once we got home to Washington, I tried to call Peggy again to see how she was doing but couldn’t get through to the memory care’s land line at an appropriate time. (She had lost her cell phone just before our last visit, and it was still missing.) Nevertheless, I persisted, and finally … Read more
[TIMELINE: OCTOBER 2021] By October, my sister was having a difficult time navigating pretty much everything in the assisted living side of her facility, according to the director of Resident Services. Peggy was not good in public spaces either, Maria had told me, noting that Peggy often appeared to be looking for something—or trying to … Read more
[TIMELINE: SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2021] About a week after Peggy couldn’t find her way to the bathroom in her small, assisted-living apartment, it happened again. I got yet another frantic phone call from her and, again, I had to give her step-by-step directions. Thankfully, she was able to find her way to it—but then she described her … Read more
[TIMELINE: SEPTEMBER 2021] As September got underway, I still didn’t have a time frame for when Peggy’s permanent move to memory care would happen, but I was sure it wasn’t far off—she was attending activities in that unit most days. Peggy actually had called to tell me all about it, and how she had been … Read more
[TIMELINE: AUGUST–SEPTEMBER 2021] By August, my sister’s cognition had declined so much that even simple-sounding tasks could be challenging for her. Halfway through the month, we were concerned (again) that she might have a urinary tract infection. UTIs are often the cause of seemingly out-of-the blue bad behavior in PwDs, though once treated their cognition … Read more
[TIMELINE: JULY–AUGUST 2021] July 2021 was a long, long month. On top of everything going on with Peggy, I ran into another unnecessary hurdle trying to deal with her Kaiser healthcare portal. I never logged into Peggy’s actual account because they have strict rules against that. Instead, they gave me my own caregiver account that was … Read more
[TIMELINE: JULY 2021] Later in July, my partner and I visited Peggy and picked up Jezebel’s ashes for her on the way. They’re in a pretty little resin container with an imprint of one of her paws on the top. We set it on Peggy’s dresser, and Liz placed Jezebel’s collar on top. It looked … Read more
