"Oh, Thank God it's YOU... How Do I Get Out of Here?"

A little after 4am this morning I heard strange noises from upstairs, they were noises that appeared to be off in a distance.  Immediately I jumped up, hoping not to disturb the kittens sleeping on our bed with us.  The last thing I wanted was to wake them up because they'd either nag me for food or start "doin' it." (Jan 4th they are getting "fixed.")

I got to the top of the stairs, turned the corner to the hall which leads to my mom's room and it was dark.  Her bedroom door was shut.  She never shuts it unless she's having hallucinations about something disturbing to her.

My office light was on, the door to the office was shut.  I opened her bedroom door and every light was on in the room, even the top overhead light that is part of the ceiling fan.  My mom appeared to be in the bathroom.

I sat quietly in her chair for a few minutes, after all, she was in the bathroom.  I chose to give her a few minutes peace to do her business.  10 minutes passed.  I hear shuffling in the bathroom and she doesn't come out.  No toilet flush, just movement sounds coming from the room.

Knocking on the bathroom door I say, "Ma, are you OK?"

Opening the door ever so slowly I see my mom standing at the sink with Savita trying to escape.  My mom was freaking out about letting her out, she thought the door to her bedroom led outside.

"Oh, thank God it's you!  How do I get out of here?  Where's the door out?"  She continued on in a frantic speech, wild eyed like she saw a ghost.  The wind.... something about the cat... something about a door leading outside, I was still reeling from dreaming about my dad and Ed.  My mom woke me just as the dream was finishing.

I assured her that it was the door to the hall that led to the kitchen, the sitting room and the dining room.  I opened the door because Savita wanted out, she was starting to scratch the wood.  My mom was scared.  "Ouuuuuuuu.... don't let her out, it's cold and dark outside", my mom yelled.  Then she said something about the mirror in her bathroom, I couldn't make out what she was trying to say.  She was using the wrong words.  Poor Ma.

I hugged her and told her that everything is going to be OK, that she was just having a nightmare.  I gave her the thyroid supplement and some helleborus.  Tucked back in bed, fully dressed for a couple more hours of sleep with a resistance to closing her eyes.  A few strokes on her head, a little Reiki and a few suggestions got her to settle down and rest.

Immediately I realized what had happened, why she got so scared and wouldn't walk down the hall to squeak the floor... the kittens knocked over the small lamp yesterday and broke the bulb that I had in the hall to light it so that it wasn't so dark and scary for my mom.  I was out of replacement bulbs with the correct wattage; last thing I wanted was to burn my house down using a bulb that was too powerful for the lamp, so I left it until I could get a bulb today.

Darkness is scary to my mom or anyone with Lewy Bodies Dementia.  I've noticed that she won't walk into a dark area or on dark floors with out testing the floor.  Uncle Al does the same thing when he visits, he checks the dark spots on the floor with his foot to make sure that they are not big holes that he'll fall into.

7 AM arrived as did my mom, back to her normal, a place where she can walk on dark floors with out checking for a big hole.  Her hallucinations were gone.  I believe she will have a good day, even if earlier this morning she awoke terrified about something.