What a Difference Two Weeks Makes

I had a different lady in my house today...She looked like my mom, was still confused like my mom, but was so alert and talkative! She slept all night and around 9 am I heard her stirring in her bed, so I opened her door and she looked at me and said , "Well, hi honey, I wondered where I was at." I sat and talked to her for a few minutes, told her I was going to make her breakfast, so she sat up in her bed and waited for me to come back to get her after I got breakfast ready. She told the dog that "Debbie is going to make your breakfast too." So I know she knew who I was. She ate okay, but not great...but she did drink some Sunny D and a glass of water. I am trying to push water, water, water because of the UTI. Thanks to Kristen, I know now not to give her orange juice or anything citrus with the UTI. I do know that she drank about 4 glasses of OJ at the nursing home. After breakfast she was ready to watch tv (game shows) and as long as I was in her sight, she would talk to me. Sometimes I sit behind her chair on the couch and she can't see me and forgets I'm in the room! The home health aide came out and bathed her and got her dressed, while I ran to the store for a few more things. (Eggs are hard to keep in the house now.) When I returned after about an hour, I made her lunch and she ate all of it and asked for more chicken (first time she asked for more!) She had her usually potty time after lunch and then said she would like to lay down for awhile. She walked in her room, pulled her covers down and crawled in to bed. I think she was asleep before her head hit the pillow. She slept for a couple of hours, and then I heard her open the door to her room. She came walking out with her shoes on and said, "Hi Honey, I wondered were you were." She wanted to watch more tv, so we watched the Waltons...she kept trying to get me to turn it by saying, "If you don't want to watch this you can turn to whatever you want." I guess she was getting sick of the Waltons! She ate a good supper, had a piece of cake and sat at the table watching me craft again. Around 8 pm she said "I could just go to sleep right here." I asked her if she wanted to go to bed and she said yes. I took her to the bathroom, got her in her gown, she walked to her room and went to bed! Now I don't know why the turnaround and if it is only temporary, but I do believe she has been sick with this UTI for awhile. She never had a fever and I didn't notice anything different with her than I had seen in the nursing home for awhile. I feel bad to know that she was here for two weeks before I noticed she was ill. Well, I didn't notice it...she just couldn't get out of bed! She still thinks this is her house at times and can't figure out how I get in, she still looks outside and thinks she sees snow on the ground, she still thinks her bedroom closet is her bathroom, but today for the first time she was more able to communicate with me than she has for quite sometime. So tomorrow morning, I hope that strange lady that I call Mom is still here! And still wants to talk, because I love having her here to talk to. Like I said, what a difference two weeks makes!