Monday Aug 17th 2pm

I took grandma to one of MANY exercise classes at the Senior Center here in town. She was NOT HAPPY, but we are going to go 2-3 times a week, even if she doesn't like it. I believe that it will get easier as her energy level increases from this program.
She has not bounced back after her 2nd stay in the hospital, even though that reason was much less severe than her first stay. Her memory has really been affected. I have a feeling that she will not fully recover mentally. This is a very sad idea, considering that before her first stay in the hospital, she was driving, shopping, cooking, doing laundry, etc. and now, it is hard to even get her to the table to eat a meal. Speaking of meals, that is another problem. She really doesn't want to eat, so i am kinda force feeding her. Mostly cottage cheese, jello, applesauce and olives (for variety of taste and texture). I have gotten her to have a little chicken and she does seem to like shrimp cocktail type shrimp. I also have started her on a good multivitamin in a capsule form so that I know that it will dissolve better as well as vitamin water varied with plain water.
One of her diabetic medications was causing a lot of bad side effects that she never told her doctor about. He stated her on a new one at the lowest level and I am testing her every morning to see how it is working. The major side effect of this medication is increase appetite. This is a good side effect for her. We just started this last week, so it will take about 3 weeks to get the new meds really into her system.
This is a very hard road for me to go down. Her memory has been slowly slipping for the last year or so, but this is a major leap. I noticed it but said nothing, but Shelby has really noticed it. She also said nothing until this last major problem.
When we see her GP next, he is going to give her a memory test to see how she does. I am sure that I will be asking for one of the new meds to help dementia.
If any of you are interested in learning more, RiteAid Pharmacy has a great video on it. We all see lot's of our new life in it. http://giving-care.riteaid.com/giving-care/
Keep me and grandma in your daily thoughts, as this is a life changing time for us.