Rummaging and Hoarding

All Grandma does every day is rummage through drawers, boxes, suitcases, and cabinets.  She hoards everything from pictures and letters to notes she wrote many years ago.  I often watch her and wonder what she is constantly doing and thinking.

I got to Grandma's around 6:45 pm.  I was so tired.  I went straight to bed and didn't even bother to get her teeth from her.  She came in and started moving stuff from dresser to the chester drawer.  She pulled the suitcases out of the closet.  I was so exhausted that I heard her but was to tired to care.

She called Daddy three times.  She told him I was in the bedroom asleep and wasn't going to hear anyone if they broke in the house.  Probably true...I was that tired.

I woke up around 11:00 p.m.  I was so hot!  I went to turn on the AC.  It was on heat and set around 85 degrees.  When it clicked on, Grandma jumped up.  She came out the door and scared me a little.  She stared me down in the hall way.  I knew she didn't recognize me.  

I said, "Hey, Grandma.  Sorry about waking you up."

Grandma looked me up and down and said, "Are you pregnant?"

"No, just fat."

"You look pregnant."

Well, thanks grandma.  My self confidence is out the roof with your support!  LOL

"Nope, not pregnant. Just fat."

"You are not fat.  You just don't need to wear that outfit again."

"Ok, Grandma.  I will not wear this outfit again."  And with that I made a mental note to never be seen in public in my PJs.  :)

I finally got her back to bed and some what convinced her that I wasn't pregnant around 2:00 a.m.  Evidently, she woke back up in the middle of the night.  I got up around 7:15 a.m.  Grandma was already up and looking for her teeth.  I had failed at getting them from her.  So, I begin to look for them too.  I found them in the middle bedroom in a cup.  They were filthy!  They looked like she had buried them in the backyard.  I started to give her the cup but quickly realized that she wouldn't clean them.  I took them in the bathroom and yes...I brushed her teeth.  

I then went to the bedroom and was going to watch the morning news while I gathered my stuff.  The remote wasn't where I had put it the night before.  I looked all around the bed.  I looked under the mattress.  I looked under the pillows.  I then started rummaging through the the chester drawers.  I found the remote.  Beside it, I found my phone.  WHAT? I started gathering my stuff, and she had unpacked my toiletries and had put them all up in the cabinet in the bathroom.   Aaaagghhh!

So, after I packed everything up and got my phone back.  I got to wondering why she rummaged through my stuff.  Dementia can play weird tricks with the mind.  Grandma was probably looking for her teeth and decided the stuff in the bag was distracting and she needed to put it up.  So, she did.  Dementia patients have to stay busy.  They are constantly looking for items.  They don't know what they have lost but they are constantly looking.  They then have a need to keep everything safe and hid.

I left grandma in the kitchen.  She was already starting to rummage in the kitchen drawers.  I told her that I found all my stuff.  She turned and looked at me.  She had no idea what I was talking about.  I left and thought, "Well played, Grandma, well played."