The hardest night trip to know about is the one nobody reports. She gets up, walks the route, uses the toilet, and gets back into bed without calling out. If she does not fall, you may never hear about it. A trip you cannot see cannot be measured, so you have to learn to read the house the morning after.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Signs the trip happened without you
Check these before breakfast, without making it a quiz. A hall light that was off when you went to bed and is on in the morning. A bathroom door left in a different position. Towels or a cloth moved, or used when they were not used the day before. Bedclothes pulled back on one side, or the bed edge creased where someone sat. Slippers or a robe in a new place. A cup or glass moved from the bedside to the sink. Bruises or new scrapes that she does not mention. Each sign has an ordinary explanation on its own. Several of them on the same morning is the pattern worth writing down.
How to check without turning it into a trial
Choose one spot to look at each morning, in the same order, so you are comparing against a fixed picture rather than your memory. Keep the list short. Then ask one open question, the way you would ask about the weather: "Did you get up in the night?" If she says no and the signs say yes, write both down and do not argue the point. She may be embarrassed, tired, or not remembering. The notes are for the appointment, not for a confrontation.
Give the trip a way to be heard
Once you know the trips are happening, make them easier to notice. Agree on a simple sound she can make, or place a monitor where it can hear the bathroom door, so you know she has started. Put the phone or a light switch where her hand goes first. Then check the house again after a week. If the signs are still there, the next question is not about the house. It is about why she is getting up at all, and that question goes to the physician, not into this notebook.