Friday

Mother's doing better today. She ate more and seemed more alert. 

When I got there this afternoon Mother was in bed and asleep. She woke a little before three, but she wasn't fully awake. She did smile at me, so I think she realized it was me. She let me trim her fingernails and then I noticed that something looked strange in her mouth. She had some food caked behind her teeth and since it was ham and pink at first I though it was her gum, so I got the nurse to look at. At first she also thought it was Mother's gum, but I used my finger to get a little bit out and discovered it was ham. The nurse used some swabs to clean out Mother's mouth. Apparently they had ham for lunch. Mother didn't like having her mouth cleaned out, but she put up with it fairly well. She then rested until it was time for me to leave. Before leaving I promised to bring Dad back with me.

When we got back Mother was still eating and Dad went over to feed her. She ate some of her food in addition to the fortified ice cream. When she had finished eating she was glad to see me. We took her to her room and I helped her into bed as quickly as possible. We checked her mouth to make sure she didn't have food in it. The nurse had left one of the foam swabs that they use to brush teeth and I used it on Mother after she was in bed. It was hard work to get her to open her lips enough to get it in and she wouldn't open her teeth, so I just brushed the outside of her teeth. I'm going to try to use one every night. Maybe Mother will get use to me doing it and it will get easier. Mother went to sleep quickly and she was asleep when we left.