I think this is a no-brainer, but I could be missing something...

Last month I posted about my mother's vision loss due to wet macular degeneration. Her vision has deteriorated considerably, and she no longer has the mental ability to even try to cope or adjust to her new situation. Her cognitive abilities have been steadily declining for the last two years, but the process has accelerated in the last four months.

She had a check-up with her primary care physician today. He thinks the acceleration is due to depression about her vision. So he's taking her off Zoloft and putting her on Remeron to see if that helps her more.

Here's why I need some advice: Today the administrator of my mother's assisted living facility told me that my mom's best friend & neighbor is being moved to the special care/memory care unit. She wanted to let me know so I could begin to get my mom prepared for Betty's departure. My mom & Betty have become so close that I think the separation will seriously affect both of them. I know it will aggravate the anxiety my mother already feels about her vision loss and isolate her further.

Then the administrator told me that the room right next to Betty in the memory care unit is available. She wanted to give me a "heads up" in case I wanted to consider moving my mother to that part of the facility. Truth be told, every time I see my mother, she seems to have regressed more, so I was actually considering such a move in the future. Perhaps the future is here, right now.

The memory care unit is smaller and has more one-on-one care & oversight. But, most importantly, it will have Betty. I always worried about how to approach my mother regarding moving to a more specialized care unit. But now I could couch it in the terms of "...You need to be there to help Betty, so she doesn't get confused or scared."

I'm meeting with the nursing staff tomorrow to re-evaluate my mother's care needs, and then I will take a tour of the memory care unit. Do you have any thoughts or advice? Thanks for your help.