So many of you know the trial and tribulations of dealing with my mom (90) with mid-stage dementia. We have issues from taking her meds properly, using her walker and other help aids to trying to convince a move to a safer living space etc. When she was hospitalized last year for a hip fracture and then sent to rehab, sister and I (with my dad's blessing) decided to tackle their overfilled basement. We figure she wouldn't be doing the stairs again so it was a good place to start clearing the clutter. We got a lot done.....but with a limited time frame, we weren't able to achieve a complete purge.
Fast forward.....Mom is an organized hoarder and for the past few months has been begging to go to the basement.....to the point she will argue with her drs. for permisson to do so. She can barely get into my smaller SUV so I knew this wasn't going to happen. I keep telling her if she wants to go through things, she has seven rooms on the main level to do. My nephew was visiting yesterday (he was unaware of the basement saga) and she made him go to the basement and take pictures with his phone. All hell broke loose and now my sister and I have been blacklisted. She hates us.
Moral of the story? Never underestimate the influence of a manipulative, stubborn woman.....with or without dementia. God help us all.
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My stubborn, manipulative mother does all sorts of 'impossible' things too, so I feel your pain. And hey, who cares if you're blacklisted? That's one less thing to worry about in the grand scheme of things, right? :)
Good luck!
Visiting relatives can really step into it.
I hope she doesn’t run your dad ragged going into the basement on errands to find this or that.
It might take her a minute to get over it.
I feel bad for your dad getting in trouble. But I wonder, will she try to enlist your nephew in any more shenanigans? ;)
I know what you mean though... how crafty they can still be even with dementia. My mom's doctor reported her to the FL DMV and her license was about to be revoked (as it should be) and she went to another state and got a license there. No test needed. I'll spare you all the details except to say the last cop that I talked to (Yes I even tried getting police involved) flat out said to me "Your mother beat the system".
So yeah- even with dementia they can figure out ways to get what they want.