So I finally got Mom to move to Ohio after another hospital stay ane her Dr. telling her that she absolutely cannot liuve by herself anymore. After 6 weeks or more of planning, the move was made and I'm already sorry I did it. And she's only been here 3 days!!!!! How in the world can one old woman be so critical with someone who has just spent all this time and energy to give her a place to live where she is much safer and well cared for? So what if the brand new curtains I bought and put up on her bedroom windows aren't ironed yet? Didn't I spend countless hours on the phone making sure she had oxygen to breathe with when she got here? What has precedence in this picture? She just gives me no breaks on anything I do. If I'm cleaning one thing she's already asking me if I did something else. REALLY? Is there a way to deal with this obnoxious behavior? I love her but I'm not really liking her right now.Now she's trying to hide Tylenol from me and lying about how much she's taking at a time. I had to threatenen to hide it from her and she still snuck some into her pocket. Then lied to me about having it in there. She wants to take 4000 to 5000 mg a day!!!! No amount of explaining about the harm she's doing to her organs with that dosage makes no difference. All I get is "Maybe I'll die a little sooner" ughhh Advice is certainly appreciated.
These are things that are going to have to be figured out as you go, things you never could have prepared for. Now is the time to start setting boundaries with your mom. If you don't feel the need to take down her new curtains that you bought for her and iron them then don't. And I'm sure you've been keeping house for many years now and know what needs to be done, how you prefer to do it. Don't let it bother you when your mom badgers you while you're cleaning house.
And know right now that she's not going to change. You are going to have to work on accepting who she is. All you can do is change your own behavior and change how her criticism affects you. Of course you went to so much trouble and stress to get her to your house. We all know how much work that is. Your mom probably has no clue how difficult those arrangements were to make and if she did know she probably wouldn't care.
As you said, it's been 3 days. This is a very tough adjustment for you both. You need to be the flexible one, don't count on your mom to meet you halfway. Compromise as much as you are able and create boundaries as you see fit. But set them now before things get out of control.
Your a good daughter for going to all of that trouble to make sure your mom is taken care of. You don't need her approval. You did good.
Please consider getting some in home care for her a few hours a week to give yourself a break and check in on her. Get her to go to the senior center for daily activity and lunch if possible several days a week and that will give her a welcoming place to go and help her to make new friends.
Most of all, TAKE care OF YOU! You need your sanity and health and well being as much as mom.
Good luck.
GOOD job getting a proper limit set on the Tylenol by the way. 4/5 grams a day is way too much, 2.5 or less is a lot safer...if she's getting 3grams or more, have the doc follow her liver function tests....