Traveling at the speed of mom

People have asked me if I will stop writing the blog now that Leola is in foster care and I've generally told them I'll write it as long a s I feel the need. I started writing it as a way to cope with all the changes in my life last spring. The pace of change hasn't slowed. If anything it has accelerated.

Notes from the foster care givers:
Leola has been there for 3 nights now. The first night she got up several times during the night which was to be expected. The second night she got up at 3:00 AM and never went back to sleep. Last night she got up and entered another resident's room and woke them causing a disturbance. They have asked us to consider medications and Jon put a call in to her doctor to talk about that.

More disturbing:
It seems I am the scarlet woman now. She is convinced Jon is her husband, he has left her for me and that's why she is living in this new place. She made them take down and put away a recent picture of Jon and me we put in her room so she would remember us. In retrospect, the comments about the boyfriend and her continuous surprise that Jon and are married fit this pattern of thinking.

Yesterday, she was found stabbing pictures of Jon with a letter opener. Obviously that didn't go over very well.

Jon called and talked to her today and nothing he could say could convince her that he wasn't her husband. Her mind is trying to construct a reality that is coherent to her, so she's piecing bits of memory from her past together. Presently she is taking the bit from when her marriage to Jon's father broke up. She told Jon on the phone, "If you say you're my son and I say you're my husband, who's to say who's right? I'll say you are my son if I can come back and live with you." There's no way that is happening... not if she thinks I am the bad guy and she is using letter openers to stab photos.

Jon and I are coming to the sudden, horrible realization that this foster care placement might not work. She might be too much for them to handle. If that happens... well I guess we better have a plan C.

In other news today, my son called from San Francisco. He has been laid off from his new job and thinks he should move back home. My 52 yr. old brother who works as a geologist with the Dept. of the Army, sent me an email saying he took a job in Iraq. He leaves Sept. 27. Who said retirement is relaxing?