Thread by @anongeniusimmi1

1. In Nov 2016 my mom was diagnosed w/#Dementia w/#AuditoryHallucinations. As she left our house at 12AM & wandered around our neighborhood, we had to put her in a #NursingHome. She was a very limited #EnglishSpeaker & very few of her caregivers spoke #Portuguese. She wasn’t used

https://twitter.com/bethanyshondark/status/1343176857647243265

2. to #AmericanFood. Throughout her life she cooked the food she started cooking at 7 in #Portugal. For these & so many other reasons, I visited my mom every day. I brought dinner for both of us & spent several hrs w/her. She had gotten used to the #Routine we had established...

3. in the 3 yrs she was in the NH. In her stage of #Dementia she was still aware of time & if I didn’t show up on time, she would become upset. The voices in her mind might tell her that I wasn’t w/her bc I had been murdered by my imaginary stalker. This was just one of many.....

4. scenarios my mother imagined. I like to say that she was living a soap opera in her mind for almost 4 yrs. And the soap opera was called Hell of a Nightmare! Imagine what happened once the NH went into #Lockdown & I couldn’t spend time w/her?

5. Unlike many we were #Fortunate to video chat almost every day. But her hearing issues made this very difficult! Imagine trying to explain what was happening on a video chat! Imagine the difficulty trying to comfort her when she was hallucinating while we were video chatting!

6. Imagine not being able to visit when she got #Covid! Imagine what it felt like for her in her time of clarity! Imagine the added pain to her body from the #Bedsores she got for the 1st time since being admitted to the NH!

7. Imagine moving from the room that had become her home! The room change didn’t help her. The new one wasn’t as bright as the other. So she stopped crocheting. She had continued doing this despite the #Dementia!

8. This gave her purpose & it was something she had enjoyed doing most of her life! Her family was the center of my mom’s life. Imagine spending the last 7 months of your life alone in a room for most of the day & ........

9. not being able to see your daughters & only grandson! In her 98 yrs my mom went through “SOME SHIT” as you say & resilient would be 1 of the many words that I would use to describe her! But no #HumanBeing deserves to end their lives alone......

10. under the circumstances that she & so many others did this year! Nor do the families of people like my mom deserve to suffer as our family has suffered not being able to care for our mother the way

11. we would have under normal circumstances. BTW Our family was very involved in my mom’s care despite her being in a NH & we were strong #Advocates for her! So imagine how we feel about not being closely involved in her care during the last 7 months

12. of her life! During that time I was called into the NH 3 times bc she was at death’s door. The NH limited the time I spent w/her. So twice I had to leave w/her still at death’s door. Imagine how that felt! Twice she didn’t succumb!

13. The last time I spent 2 hrs w/her as she died! I’m grateful that I was able to be w/her even for such a brief time at the end. Many other families haven’t been as fortunate to be w/their loved ones as they die!

14. So you can bet that my misery isn’t imagined! But mostly I am #ANGRY that @realDonalTrump & his #GOPLackeys were so #Incompetent & #Callous when it came/comes to the #CovidMishandling! #ItDidntHaveToBeThisBad! #GOPKnewAndDidNothing! #GOPGenicide