On A Serious Note...

Hi, friends. I usually try to keep this blog light and fluffy, but today life just won't permit it. Those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting my parents, Rex and Eunice, know what wonderful people they are. My mom has had memory issues for years now, and she has always made little jokes about her diminishing "gray matter." We always chuckled about it. Didn't think much of it. Memory loss is just a natural part of aging, right? This last year she has gotten much worse, and has gotten worse quickly. We don't have an official diagnosis from the doctor, but all signs point to Alzheimer's. Starting this past week, she has been terrified to be with Rex. She locks herself in their bedroom, locks him out of the house when he goes to get the mail, and recently locked herself into a Taco Time bathroom, refusing to come out. You can imagine the scene. Whenever I leave the house, she begs to come with me, to not leave her alone with "that man." That man is my amazing dad, who since her knee replacement surgery last summer, has taken on the role of June Cleaver around these parts. He does the cooking, the laundry, cleans the house, makes sure she is taking her meds, lifts her up from chairs, and on and on. It is heartbreaking to see her so afraid of the man who loves her more than any husband could possibly love a wife, who would never hurt her, and who has sacrificed his own health to care for hers.

Today my sister Lee Ann and I drove around town to find a care facility for my mom. Now I love to shop, but this is one shopping trip that I prayed I would never have to make. We found a really nice home specifically for patients with Alzheimer's less than a mile from our house, but of course it doesn't accept Medicare and costs around $3500 a month. Is the only other option to sell their house and put her in a nursing home? Surely there is a way that he can continue to live at home and pay for her care at the same time. We have started to look into the reverse mortgage option, but it seems like such a scam to me. I know we should have planned for this better. We should have been researching all of this a long time ago. But procrastination is the Johansen Family way, and here we are.

Could you please pray for my mom? Pray that doors will be opened for us, that we can be led to people who will have answers and solutions that will work for our family? I would be so grateful. And if any of you have been faced with similar situations, what did you do? I want to find the best possible care for this sweet, tender-hearted, unselfish, perfect mother who taught me how to ride a bike, write my name, bake a pie, tie a square knot, pray to my Heavenly Father, and serve others.