What's going on? 68 years in her home, and in the past two weeks, she's been in the hospital and now rehab. She has slight dementia, but generally knows what's going on, who the family is, etc. With this big change, she talks in a loop about certain things. Today it was her call button for the nurse. All day, explaining to me what the call button does, that it calls the nurse, not the aide, but if she needs the aide the nurse can ask. The clip on the call button is not a button, it goes on her shirt (she thought it was another call button, I think). I redirect her to talk about something else, and she's back talking about the call button within seconds. It's like a skipping record. I can't tell if she knows she's doing this. If/When I try to redirect her or remind her that she's told me this before, she goes "I know, I know, I'm just telling you that when you hit this button, the nurse comes and she can tell me if I need the aide or the nurse, see, this clip goes on my clothes......" It's alarming, and so incredibly frustrating. What is going on? Do others experience this?
In some way, maybe your nana is trying to shrink her very changed environment down to one thing she can understand and control - the call button. I think your nana is lucky to have such a caring granddaughter. Just support her and listen to her and redirect her as best you can.
You could also see if she's on any new medications that might be causing this behavior or if they've taken her off of her previous meds. You don't say why she was hospitalized and is now in rehab. Did she have a fall? If so, she could have had a stroke or TIA, which can also alter behavior.