Mishelle’s Story

Site created on March 24, 2020

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your prayers, support, and words of encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Gabby Wood

Time flies by so fast! I can't believe it's been three years since the beginning of Mom's illness. As I was preparing to write this post, I went back and read the update from this time last year. I am amazed by how much progress she's made in that time! 

The biggest improvement has been in her mobility. She used to really struggle with maintaining her balance while standing and walking. She couldn't move around independently because she needed so much help staying upright. Now she is able to walk around the house with only occasional assistance from her cane! This is a huge improvement. It has been helpful for us as caregivers because we can still accomplish tasks around the house and not have to worry about her getting up by herself and falling. Dad also redid the flooring throughout the entire house so there are no transitions for her to trip over which has been helpful. She does still fall occasionally, but we've been fortunate in that she's only had some bruises and no major injuries. Because she's so mobile, she doesn't have to go to physical therapy anymore at all. We have some exercises that we do at home, but for the most part, she's doing really well on her own.

The downside of being able to walk independently is that she is constantly on her feet. It's very hard to get her to sit still for long. Because of that, she has been dealing with quite a bit of swelling in her feet and legs. We've had to be very creative in coming up with ways to get her to sit down and rest. Another downside to being independent is that we've had trouble keeping her in the house and out of things she isn't supposed to be getting into. She managed to get out of the house while Dad was sleeping a couple of times, and we're very grateful for neighbors who know her and were able to help her back to the house. All of the doors now have multiple locks on them and alarms that sound when they're opened. We also had to put locks on the cupboards and fridge because she was getting into them and taking the wrong pills or eating things she isn't supposed to have. It's not fun for any of us, and we don't want her to feel like she's trapped, but her safety is the most important thing. We didn't leave the house very much during the winter months, but now that it's warming up, I'm hoping we can spend more time outside. 

Mentally, we have seen some improvement, but not as much as we would like to. She is talking a lot more and her voice has definitely been growing stronger every day. She's very good at expressing what she wants, sometimes very loudly. :) She has very little short-term memory. Sometimes she can remember with some prompting, but for the most part, we are repeating the same answers to the same questions many times a day. This has been especially difficult for me in the last few months since the passing of her mother. Mom is always asking where her mom is, and it breaks my heart to have to tell her the truth every time. Most of the time, she's devastated and asks why no one told her that her mom died. Those are very difficult conversations to have.

Mom still deals with a lot of anxiety as well. She is constantly walking around the house and packing things up because she thinks that someone is coming to get her and she needs to be ready. For the most part, we just let her do whatever she wants to do. That seems to be the only thing that prevents her from having a meltdown. I always keep a close eye on her and when it seems like she's getting tired, I suggest an activity that will get her to sit down and put her feet up for a while. There's one movie that she really enjoys that we watch every day. She also seems to enjoy reading, although it's difficult to know how much she's actually comprehending. She doesn't have the attention span for puzzles or games anymore, but she enjoys coloring, painting, crafty things, and playing with kinetic sand. We bake cookies occasionally too, although she's generally more interested in eating them than helping with the baking. :) Despite all of the day-to-day challenges, her doctors are all very pleased with how she's doing.

Thank you so much for continuing to pray for us! This has been a long journey. We have no idea how much she will improve beyond this, so we are thankful for your continued prayers. We do have a couple of new things that you could be praying for as well. We have a lot of big changes coming up this year. Dad is going to be retiring at the end of this year and will be staying home with Mom full-time. The timing of this works out pretty well as I will be moving out of state around that time. Please pray for Mom that this won't be too big of a disruption for her. It's going to be a big change in routine and I'm concerned that she's going to struggle with both of her kids being gone. Pray for Dad too because caregiving is such a hard job. He's going to need breaks every once in a while, and I'm hoping that he will be able to find some sort of respite care for Mom.

Thank you for praying! We appreciate you all!

Patients and caregivers love hearing from you; add a comment to show your support.
Help Mishelle Stay Connected to Family and Friends

Your $25 donation to CaringBridge will help keep this site online for two weeks. And if you donate by March 28, a generous CaringBridge donor will match your donation, dollar for dollar, up to $10,000.

Make your gift in honor of Mishelle by midnight on March 28 to be counted!

Comments Hide comments

Show Your Support

See the Ways to Help page to get even more involved.

SVG_Icons_Back_To_Top
Top