Interesting week

So I started my new job this week, and I knew being gone would probably affect my mom but I had no idea how much. She actually had one of her worst episodes to date, packed all her things and said she was leaving, got very rude with my wife and actually hit her... to make things worse I was in the middle of my orientation when all of this was going on so felt totally helpless when my wife called to let me know what was going on. She really is putting up with a lot and being understanding, to be honest I don't know if I would have been so understanding if the roles were reversed and it was her mom. I was finally able to talk to my mom during a break enough to calm her down some, and fortunately she did and then pretty much forgot about the whole incident. As I have mentioned before, I think this illness is more draining on us than her. She was better this weekend but still had some left over rancor, fortunately the fact that it was Mother's Day and my birthday helped some to mitigate the issue. On the flip side of the coin, I met some great people during my orientation and we even managed to have some fun in "class", I am really pumped about my new job as well as excited about the company. I am sure that not only is this going to be a success on a personal level but that somehow will be able to help others, I hope I am able to bring some other friends on board.

Learning...

I think a huge part of the process with my mom is for me to learn how to deal with her illness. While the medicines have helped tremendously, I think part of it is also for me to be able to let things go instead of arguing about it or trying to correct her. Many of the arguments we had at the beginning were because she would say something against my wife or make up something she had done and I felt I had to make sure she knew that was not the case. Now I realize it is better to make a comment in a way that she does not find offensive but to let it go as she will most likely forget the whole thing within the hour. In a way this illness is harder on us than it is on her as most of the time she does not realize what is going on but we do and it is hard to see my mom and yet it not be her entirely. I guess on the positive side, it is not an illness where she is suffering or in pain and it is more on me and my family to be learn to deal with it...