19 Scissors and Counting

Today I counted how many scissors and nail clippers my mother has, so far I've found 19 pairs of scissors and 9 nail clippers. 

One common symptom dementia patients exhibit is thinking that someone is stealing from them; my mother hides things to prevent them from getting stolen.  Once she hides things, she forgets she's done it, then when she can't find something she thinks someone has stolen it all over again.  She then sees similar items at my sister's and brother's respective homes and she just packs the item into her purse or suitcase.  It's really a never ending cycle; hence the 19 pairs of scissors.

Now on the other hand, before dementia set in my mother did have some money go missing, so maybe part of this particular paranoia stems from what happened in the past, it's certainly something to think about. This is something that Lanny Butler discusses in his book about dementia, "My Past is Now My Future".