My mom Karen is extremely strong willed, and she has dementia (short term) of some kind. She lives in an apartment by herself in a Senior Care Facility and is already receiving 3 meals per day and daily well checks, with her medication administered. All this is expensive. She wont change her clothes in the Winter (wears the same pants & shirt for up to 3 weeks). Early on, we tried putting tags for "DAYs of the Week" on her hangars. She has limited clothing to make it easier. She threw those out! She is also combative towards nurses when she had her husband living there. He is in hospice now.
Summer is here and now she wears the same tennis outfit from last year everyday. She is very stubborn and denies anything is wrong by saying, "I washed my clothes today and I take care of it, I know what I'm doing! Im not an imbecile!" Should we now add more "hygiene care"? She might take a swing at them too! Memory care is on the horizon, but she is very "freedom oriented" and wants her own way! My brother & I just try to keep things from changing too much until her 97 yr old husband passes away.
Time to move her to memory care where they will bathe her, and change her clothes daily.
Your moms brain is permanently broken, and she doesn't know what she is doing, so you now have to step up and make sure that she's receiving the care she requires. Getting 3 meals a day, plus daily well checks along with medication being administered is no longer cutting it.
Your mom needs much more care than that now.
Memory care is no longer "on the horizon," it is literally at your/her front door, so you best let it in ASAP.
It’s not about Mom getting her way.
It’s about what she needs .
It’s not fair to staff or other residents for your mother to reside where her needs are more than they can take care of, and the potential disruptions she may cause .
I think that the personal hygiene call is a necessity.
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