#InterruptAsNeeded

[grandmaislost-blog]

Prank Call

When the delusions go overboard, distract, distract, distract!! Red alert, red alert!!

Grandma's been saying she's moving tomorrow for months, maybe years (on and off with varying degrees of seriousness and urgency)! So, the "get my suitcases/boxes because I'm leaving tomorrow" stuff is never fun & sometimes dangerous (like when she empties her closet onto the floor & is then trapped in a corner because she can't walk through the mess - last time was Saturday, thankfully she was distracted by visiting family and I was able to sneakily clean it up while they chatted with her at the table)! Tonight, she was sitting out front for a bit and got up to go walk to the neighbor's to snag a box from their pile of garbage. Dad spotted her and I ran out to find out where she was headed. How she was planning on grabbing a box from a distance that she tells her therapists she can't make it to and bring it back to the house was a question for which she had no answer. I did my best to play along, to a degree, while still standing my ground on safety. Got her inside & the combination of fantasy world and the fact that she HATES being reprimanded by anyone - especially a grandchild, had her talking crap to my dad. She kept bugging him and and wouldn't let up, when it occurred to me to call her phone to distract her. I waited until she sat safely on the sofa and called her phone. IT TOTALLY WORKED!!! She stopped talking and tried to answer it. But, I hung up. It's been more than half an hour and she hasn't gone back to Sundown Syndrome compulsive fantasy land!!