Mrs. Dunkin #5

This is an ongoing story I've decided to write and put on my blog every Monday.   Please excuse the errors, I'm only doing limited editing.  Constructive criticism welcome.  I wish I had a cute button on the side where the story could go but I don't know how to make a button.  Even if I did I wouldn't know how to link up the story LOL.   So if you miss a chapter, you'll have to look at my sidebar for it.  The first chapter was written on October 23, 2011 so that should at least be some help, ha.

Chapter 5

     Meanwhile, Julie had been sitting in the car for quite a while in front of the doors. She had to calm herself down before she could go back in.  She could feel the fear inside her of what was eventually going to become of her mother.  She was always the one in the family that kept everything going; the one they all depended on.  She couldn’t believe what was happening to her now.  She was feeling guilty about a lot of things.  She was a doctor for goodness sakes.  Why didn’t she see the signs?  She noticed her mom was getting forgetful but just thought it was old age creeping up on her.  She was 70 sometimes that will happen to people her age.  Ralph did tell her that he thought something might be wrong with her mom but did she listen, no.  She wanted to live in a fantasy world.  After the unexpected death of her father she wanted to believe that nothing was going to happen to her for a long, long time.  Thank goodness, she finally faced reality.  At least she’s on medication now and hopefully it will slow the progression of the disease. 

     Then she was feeling guilty that her mom ended up at a nursing home.  She told her she could live with her.  It would have been hard for her family but they could have made it work.  She then remembered all those years ago her mother telling her that she never wanted to have to live with her children.  She could have had a private nurse too that lived at her home.  There was no problem with the money.  Her father made sure her mother even if something happened to him that she would be set for life.  She didn’t get it.  Like her mom said though it’s her decision, and I’ll honor it even though she didn’t like it.   

      “Auntie Julie, are you all right?” Josh said peeking into her window.  Julie jumped.  “You scared me Josh.”  “Sorry, grandma wanted me to find you.  She thinks you were taking too long.  I brought the cart back for you.”  “I’m fine.  I guess I just got lost in my thoughts.”  “Are you worried about her?”  “ I guess I am.   I never expected her to end up here.”  “Me either.  Grandma’s always been so independent.  It seems nice enough but I guess with what she’s dealing with she thinks this is best for her.  Dad told me what’s wrong with grandma but that was it.   I looked it up on the Internet to see exactly what it was.  It’s kind of scary.”  “Yes, it is but we’ll get through it as a family and don’t you worry about it.  Now let’s get this stuff unloaded before she sends your father for us too.”  “Okay” and they unloaded three boxes full of stuff.  “You take that stuff to the room while I move my car back to the parking lot.  Tell grandma I’ll be right in.”

     She pulled her car into the parking lot and as she was walking to the door, she saw an old friend from high school coming.  “Sally, what are you doing here?” “Julie, is that you?  I haven’t seen you for years. My mom’s here.  She had a stroke last year and is in a wheelchair.  We couldn’t take care of her; our house is way too small.  We barely fit my family in it. What are you doing here?”  “My mom moved in yesterday.  We found out she has Alzheimer’s. For some reason she’s telling everyone it’s early onset which it isn’t.  It’s a little worse than that but perhaps she didn’t understand the doctor or that’s how she’s coping with it.  We wanted her to move in with one of us but if you remember my mom, she always did things her way.”  “She’ll be fine, don’t worry about her. I was so lucky to get my mom in here.  This is a wonderful place and they treat the residents like family.”  “That’s good to know.”  “Well, I hate to run but I’ve got to get back to work.  Every four months they have a family conference and I like to go to it.  Maybe we can get together sometime and if you have any questions I can help.  My number’s in the book.”  “I would appreciate that more than you know.  See you later.”

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