Monday, October 18, 2010

I'm back! I had a great long weekend with my friends with plenty of relaxation and much needed sleep! It was great! My sister Betsy picked up Dad at Black Mountain this morning and took him to Life Care. That gave me an extra night last night to unpack and get things ready for the week. Simon had a soccer game, so our sitter picked Dad up at Life Care and brought him home. We were suppose to be gone to the game, but Van got caught up in work and we left late. I got to see Dad before we left for about 40 minutes. He came in the house in a jolly mood, smiling the whole time. He sat at the bar with me, the sitter, and my niece, Leah. We were talking about how he responds differently to people asking "who" they are. If you ask him, "What's my name?" he'll respond, "Tammy Wammy" because my friend Tammy always asked Dad that. If you ask him, "Who am I?" he usually responds, "Leah" because that is one of his caregivers at Life Care and he has learned to respond that way. We asked him what my name was and he wasn't able to tell us. He did say all his children: "David, Katharine, Peter, Susie, Betsy, Marie." When we got home after the game, he was sitting in his recliner, smiling. We watched some TV with him while we waited on Leah's dad to come get her. Dad said, "mini, mini, mini, mini" over and over and then he said, "four eight, fort nine, four eight, fort nine" over and over. I asked if he was ready for bed and he said, "Not now." Later, I told him it was time for bed. I said, "I'll help you up." He stood up and began walking with me then started slumping over slowly. He seemed to want to move his legs, but he couldn't take a step. It was almost as if he was falling asleep mid-step. Van had to help me get him back to his chair. We got him back up and to his bedroom. He had on his shirt, jacket and pajama bottoms. It took some persuasion to get him to take off all his clothes and get changed before getting in the bed, but I accomplished it! As I covered him with his covers, he seemed to melt into the bed and showed his pleasure not only through his actions, but with his words...."thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.... Susie