A phone call out of left field...

Dad called Mom today! Talk about a phone call out of left field!!! First thing, Dad wanted to know, where Mom was. He had gotten up early, showered and was waiting for her to go out to breakfast. Mom told him she was sorry there had been a misunderstanding, but she was home doing her Bible study.

Dad told her he was upstairs at 1446 (what we called his Mother and Dad's house in Pasadena, when we were little) and he had heard the truck pull out of the garage (the garage was not connected to the house in Pasadena, so he must have meant the Covina house, Mom is living in) and he ran from Pasadena to Covina in his bare feet and he was so tired.

Mom told him he must be exhausted from running so far. He told her they had to treat his feet because they were so burned...

Dad shocked Mom by asking if he had gotten married again... Mom told him, "No, not unless he had snuck off without her knowing about it"...

Well, he did not think Mom was doing her job. He had arthritis in his hands, he was NOT getting nutritious meals, or his vitamins. Mom tried to remind him he took his vitamins with the rest of his medication, and he became very agitated, telling her she did not know what she was talking about.

Dad asked Mom what church she was going to, and she told him the family church they always attended. Dad seemed shocked and asked why she was not going to Foothill Presbyterian anymore? When Mom told Dad Foothill was a hospital, his response was, "oh".

Then he started in on his doctor, telling Mom he didn't like him because he always talked about baseball. Mom replied that Dad likes baseball and so do their sons. Angrily, Dad hissed, that's different!

Dad couldn't remember if Pasadena was West or East, and Mom told him West, but Dad disagreed telling her West Covina was West. He wanted to know where the boys were, so Mom told him what all the boys were doing. Then, he wanted to know where my sister was, and where I was, and Mom told him...

Where is my white truck? Dad wanted to know... and Mom explained he had asked his second to the oldest son to sell it. He had sold it to one of his employees. Oh yes, Dad remembered, he got me $6000 to clean up the yard... Dad always thought his 1979 Datsun Pick Up was worth so much money because he had insisted he had a business license on it. My brother sold it for $1100.

When was she coming to see him? Dad asked. Mom told him the parking lot was being repaved and she had to walk too far in the heat. She would come Tuesday, after the paving was finished on Monday. Dad wanted to know what parking lot? The one in Covina?

Mom tried to change the subject, telling Dad one of my youngest brother's friend, and his father, wanted to come visit Dad. My brother had suggested they would make big points if they would bring Dad an In and Out shake and hamburger. Dad was questioning Mom on what they looked like, and she told Dad he would recognize them when he saw them. With that, she could hear my brother's friend's voice greeting Dad...

Dad must have spotted the food, because Mom heard the phone hang up and the call was disconnected. Once again, food is the priority!

Poor Mom was really thrown for a loop! Dad has not called the house in several months. We were all shocked earlier in the week, when the therapist told Mom Dad was shaving with an electric shaver, picking out his clothes, partially dressing himself and walking!

It's been awhile since our good days and bad days were in a span of a few days...maybe now, the span will be in a months time... or maybe, his medications need adjusting again, especially if Dad thinks he is hallucinating about running from Pasadena to Covina. We have to remember, there is no rhyme or reason with this disease...

It is all so weird and disconcerting. All seems to be going well with Dad, until the mayhem of this disease, grabs us like a big bully, yanking us out of our shoes! We all run around, questioning one another in a panic, wondering what it all means...

We then, some how, land on our feet, take stock of the situation, and remind ourselves, it means, Dad has Alzheimer's... and this, is perfectly normal, for him...