In case anyone might have noticed, I've updated or upgraded my site. I don't know which to call it. I'm still using Drupal 7 but I've switched to using panels for styling, along with delta. I'd been meaning to do this for some time and actually had a working version on a development site. Something went wrong with this live site so I backed it out. Well, I couldn't sleep this morning so I go up and tried it again. There had been some updates to some modules so perhaps that made a difference. Anyway, I think it looks better.

Possibly the most difficult aspect of dementia is how it sneaks up on you in plain sight. We all know it is happening but in the earlier stages there is no clue as to how insidious it is. The doctors, although they recognize its onset, say nothing about how it progresses. I don't like that term when dealing with dementia. I can see nothing of progress here. 

My mother died this morning, 1am, according to the hospice nurse. We, only just yesterday, began 24 hour nurse attendance for her. She lasted 14 of those hours. For me, she was a wonderful mother, allowing me opportunities but never pushing me. Perhaps I needed pushing, but we won't go into that just now. For several years now her dementia became more and more a controlling characteristic of her life. For the first few years it was merely humorous short-term memory loss. Just a few years ago it had developed to the point where she got lost driving to and from the grocery store.

The Mountains of California by John Muir
 My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So I've been on Family Medical Leave for about a month. Mostly I sit by a monitor I set up and watch my mother sleep. This is a Uniden system monitor and works fairly well, even in the dark. The sound is not so good so I have a First Years baby monitor also set up. I can react immediately to any cries for help or other signals of apparent urgency. For the most part even she cannot tell me what the problem is, what might be frightening her. She seldom reports being in any pain. Mostly these cries occur when she awakens and does not know where she is. 

To Build A Fire by Jack London
My rating: 5 of 5 stars