snoozeofreason wrote: ↑Mon Apr 06, 2020 10:40 am
My mother and mother in law are a worry. Both are elderly and live by themselves. MiL, aged 91, has been getting confused about her medicines recently. My wife and her siblings know what she needs to take and phone her when each pill is due, but she still struggles to get it right. She ended up being admitted to hospital last night. Thankfully she was discharged in the morning, but this isn't a good time to be going into hospital (not for her, or the medics, or for my brother in law and his wife, who had to collect her and take her home).
My mother is 87 and pretty sharp mentally for her age, but she is finding the lockdown difficult to cope with and keeps threatening to go out for a walk, or even go shopping (she doesn't need to - her fridge and freezer are full, and we can keep it that way). MiL is also prone to go out for short walks, despite her confusion.
My wife our siblings are wracking our heads trying to think of things to keep our mothers occupied, so they are happier staying indoors. My wife has been doing a lot of family history with MiL, and I am giving technology lessons to my own mother (she seems to have got the hang of Skype, and is making some progress with a mobile phone that I have bought her). I imagine that we are not the only ones with these sorts of problems so if anyone has tips to share, we are all ears.
I'm not sure I have much to offer but would likewise be interested to hear of others' ideas.
My mother is 85 and tech-phobic. I live 60 miles away and my brother much further, so tech used to be a big part of how we kept in touch.
This wasn't a problem while my tech-savvy dad was alive but sadly he died over a year ago. My brother had finally managed to convince her to get a smart phone but we were going to help her get it set up with WhatsApp, etc, when we were due to see her for her birthday at the end of March. Obviously, that didn't happen so I'm trying to figure out how best to explain it over the phone to someone who is tech-phobic and hard of hearing. I know that being able to see her grandkids will help her a lot so I'm keen to figure it out but she's had the phone 2 months and only just worked out how to send a text to the right person, so it's going to be a challenge.
At least she is fundamentally still very sharp and seems to have finally got the message about staying indoors - her next door neighbours are being brilliant and doing all her shopping for her.
Anyway, I sent her an Amazon parcel with some audio-books on cd, the i puzzle book and a nice pen (and some hand cream, posh teabags, etc). She's very much appreciated those, and I'll send her some more bits and bobs in a couple of weeks, assuming Amazon carries on delivering.