Crisis In This Household

Regular readers will know that I am the primary caregiver for my aging mother, and know of some of the health problems that she has. This past two weeks have brought one crisis after another with no real solution in sight. It would appear that she has had another mini stroke that has affected her ability to walk and also affected her personality.

My mom was always the most positive person, no matter what life threw at her, and trust me it has been a lot, she was always able to bounce back and see the sunny side. This time however, the darkness has crept into her spirit and I am having difficulty banishing it.

She has congestive heart failure as well and every morning when I put her meds in front of her to take she fights me. She absolutely refuses to take them and it takes me half the day to convince her that she should. Finally she does take them but blames them for everything, like her tiredness and weakness. Of course that's not true but convincing someone who never took pills is hard.

I wanted to take her to hospital this weekend but she flat out refused. Since her mind is clear it is really her choice and I have to respect that. Tomorrow her doctor is coming to visit (he makes house calls) and the discussion has been to put her on a mild anti depressant to try and change her mood.

My dilemma is this, do I tell her what they really are or do I pass them off as a vitamin? What is the best thing to do? Do I let her just slip away from us or is it ethical for me to try everything I can to keep her with us longer? That is what preoccupies my mind these days, it's even hard to do any knitting.