We got mama to the hospital that day and called her doctor. They found that her hip was broken and called a surgeon to do the surgery. We knew putting her through surgery would worsen the Alzheimer’s but there was no choice. It had to be fixed. Putting a person with Alzheimer’s to sleep will take what they have left. They took her to surgery and I sat and waited. Irv took Blake home because it was so late and Bill came and sat with me till the surgery was over. It was about midnight by then and Bill left and I stayed on with mama.

Thursday came and I stayed all day, too. Mama slept most of the time, but when she woke, she didn’t know me or anything about what happened to her. Irv said he would stay on Thursday night, so I could get a little sleep. Friday, Terri(Bill’s wife) came and stayed, and Friday night I was back for the night again. Mama was really restless and so mixed up. She started pulling off the sheets and folding them over and over. Mama would hold her hands up like she had a book and she would read, except there was no book. She would ask where she was and why she was there.

On Saturday, Doc (mama’s grandson) came in from Missouri to see her. He played the guitar and sang and she loved that, but didn’t remember it as soon as he was gone, but she had it for the moment.

That night, Terri spent the night and mama was wild. Mama fought her and told her to leave her alone and even hit her on the head with a stuffed money she had. She pulled off the sheets and folded them over and over again; reached for things in the air that weren’t there and talked to people that weren’t there.

I got back about 6 a.m. and mama was talking to someone who wasn’t there. She thought the clock had water running out of it, so I took it off the wall. She would not keep her sheets on, saying she had to wash and fold them. Some company came in and mama kept on with her washing and folding. She didn’t even know they were in the room. Then she looked up and asked if anyone needed this big T-shirt, ‘cause it wouldn’t fit her. She started waving her hands back and forth and I asked what she was doing. She said, “Reading. What else?”

I handed her a real book and she laid it down and went back to reading the play-like one. She told me maybe she would read mine next.

Sunday night Terri came back and she tied mama’s sheets to the end of the bed so she couldn’t pull them off. Mama talked to her mama who’s been dead for 50 years. They said her heart rate was high and they gave her a pint of blood. On Monday morning I got back at 6 a.m. again. I couldn’t help thinking, how long is this going to go on? Mama’s hands were all bloody from pulling on the IV. I cleaned her up and she started to tell me that she had two grandsons living in Missouri, so I knew she didn’t know me, since one of those grandsons is my son, Michael. The doctor said it was a “wait and see game.” They are sending her to Recoup Care to get her ready for rehab. I put CMA music on the TV and she listened a little but couldn’t see the TV. Her teeth were falling out, so I tried the grip stuff, but it didn’t work for her so they were put in a cup. She had visitors and she talked to them like she knew who they were, but as soon as they left, she says, ”WHO was that?” She seems to know us, though.

Monday night, Terri came back and I went home and to bed. Tuesday morning I’m back and the first thing mama said to me was, “Patty, take me out of here.”

Mama had taken all the monitors off and no one had noticed. I called and had them put back on. Mama was back to her folding AGAIN. They moved her to Recoup Care on third floor about noon. It was a big nice room and I was glad of that. A friend from church named Lillian came by and mama thought she was her Aunt Lillian from her childhood. Mama never rests, just a few minutes at a time. It was a hard day for me. Terri had a rough night that night, too. She never slept, was mean, and told them they BETTER call her daughter. Mama’s brother, Walter, called and she told him she was fine, sitting in her swing, watching the people go by. Terri thought he would get the message, since he called her at the hospital and she couldn’t have been sitting in the swing, but he didn’t seem to notice. Just told her that he was glad she was fine. He’s 15 months younger than her.