My life is in for some major changes

My life is full of changes right now. My youngest son just graduated, I am going to get myself into eating healthier and loose weight but more so living with my mom as she seems to be in the early/mid stages of Alzheimer's.

I guess if I want to be honest with myself it started many years ago. What we thought were effects from statins she was given for high cholesterol were probably more from this horrid disease. Over the years its been little things but within the last year it has really gotten much worse and continues to do so. The hard part is that she is only 74 but has enough of her mind that she refuses to go to the Dr. as she insists that its nothing more than the effects of old age. But unfortunately I believe its way more than that. Things that she has done for years, places she used to drive all the time, bits of information such as our zip code (she has lived here for 50+ years) are pretty much gone. Her short term memory is almost non existent. If you tell her something you can be sure that you will be repeating the same information again shortly as well if she tells you something you are going to hear it many times. Sometimes things she chooses to tell me although she is perfectly sure she has her facts correct are either completely off (something she saw on the news or read) or what she believes to be in the present are in fact something from days/weeks/months ago. We now are at the point where she will give me most of her important paperwork as she looks at it and "doesn't understand it". Very easily confused so I try and remind the family to also not give her too much information at one time so as to not confuse her. My mom retired about 18 months ago...not really sure if it was her choice or the more of a forced retirement in loo of letting her go. I guess that is a question I will never have an answer to. She absolutely hates retirement and tells anyone who asks her just that. She has trouble remembering where things go as well. Our cupboards haven't changed in 30+ years and I often see her looking through them trying to find a bowl or coffee cup even though they are where they have always been. It can make life interesting when she decides to put things away if she unloads the dishwasher. You never know where you are going to find anything. You might find it in a totally obscure spot.
She has continued to work a nighttime job as a receptionist but I look for that to end very shortly as she is having trouble with doing some of the simplistic things of the job and her boss (also a family friend) has even taken several of the things she used to do from her (to make it easier on mom) but its still stresses her out terribly. She is now to the point that she complains about having to go in because its not fun anymore and when she gets home at night she complains how horrid things are and how she is being treated so differently. I am sure that over time that some things have changed with her boss as we all age and change but the biggest factor is mom. She perceives everything as against her at this point. Of course with the memory loss also comes the wonderful world of never knowing what you are going to face with her attitude. Some days are wonderful and she is in such a great mood but then she can go from happy to madder than hell in a split second. You never know what will set her off, or how long it will last or when you are going to be at the end of her anger.

Going to have to start making some major changes very shortly. First of all is getting all her important information gathered up in one spot so I can easily access it when necessary. Setting up a command center where the date is always show, any important information such as phone numbers, and daily information. Making things simple as possible around here for her She hasn't cooked for a couple of years so that really isn't an issue as she wants nothing to do with anything more than heating something up in the microwave. She does like to do laundry but as long as she can't find the bleach things go well. It's defiantly going to be a day by day learning experience for all of us. I will be doing the changes slowly as to not upset her but yet maybe give her a little more confidence and independence in her daily life.