While living at Peaceful Harvest in Charlestown, Mom developed a skin condition. She had scabby sores on her shoulders and face that she constantly picked at, making them bleed. It began shortly after she moved on March 28th and blossomed to the point that she looked positively diseased. In late July we took her sister Flossie, visiting from Florida, to see Mom. We greeted Mom where she was sitting in the living room and I gasped at how bad her skin had gotten since we had seen her seven days earlier; red scabby sores covered her face. Flossie was afraid she might be contagious, but we had been assured no one else in the place had anything like it.
That day, I insisted that she be seen right away. One sore just above her left eyebrow looked red, puffy, and was warm to the touch. It was no doubt infected. Within a couple of days, Mom was on an antibiotic and had an appointment with a dermatologist in Keene who prescribed a cortisone cream to be applied 4 times a day and basically that was all that was done for her. I was told it was stress-induced dermatitis.
This whole episode underscored my frustration at being two hours away from Mom, unable to take her to doctor appointments and really know all that was going on. It wasn't about being in control; it was about being there for Mom, being an advocate, talking with her doctors face to face. I had abdicated her care to the Peaceful Harvest staff, people who were likely competent enough to handle it yet not invested in my mother's care like I was.
That visit in July was probably the beginning of the reservations that began to swell up inside of me twisting my emotions into knots, unsure of how to solve the dilemma. I tried to envision moving her back to her apartment over our garage. That wouldn't work. She wasn't safe up there alone any more. I saw our office being transformed back into her bedroom and her living with us 24/7 and knew my sanity was at stake, as well as my marriage. I began to pray that Mom would simply settle in and make the most of her new season of life.
I'm so thankful we found a good solution and it feels wonderful to accompany her to her doctor appointments, stop in and see her whenever I wish, and have her nearby. Her skin condition has calmed down. The dermatologist she saw yesterday told me Alzheimer patients will often pick at their skin and cause sores. He prescribed a new topical cream and insisted she be showered daily with Oil of Olay body wash until he sees her again in three weeks. If we can stop her skin from feeling itchy, she may stop causing scabby sores that she can't resist picking at. Let's hope!
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Location:Gile Rd,Nottingham,United States
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