Martha H

Our mailbox was in the vestibule of the apartment building. Once my brother got a phonecall that Mom hadn't paid her supplementary health insurance for over 3 months Luckily they had his name and address as a back up. Mom insisted she had paid it. We sent another check.

For much of the 5 years I lived with her I always picked up the mail on my way home from school, since it usually came at about 3 PM. When Mom got it first, she usually just put it on the kitchen table and didn't even try to open it. But every now and then something turned up in the trash. (I had begun checking after money went missing.)

Not long after that she stopped remembering there was a mailbox down there. She came up (with the aide) without stopping to look. Once or twice the mailman was there when she came in, and handed her the mail, then she might or might not open everything, including things addressed to me.

I was just about to apply for a PO Box when she stopped showing any interest whatever in mail.

About 2 years earlier she had tried to send a card to her sister. She told me later in the day, you know, it was really odd, I knew her house number and city and state and even her zip code, but I could not think of the street. Did you look in your address book? Oh no, I just sent it off, everyone in Greenville knows her ( Greenville SC, not a tiny village!) Well of course the card came back later, incomplete address. The fact that she forgot it didn't worry me as much as the fact that she figured it would get to her anyhow, with no street address on it ...

This was one of the earlier signs of Dementia ...

Love,

Martha