Sunday, October 10, 2010

I got up early this morning because I had to go to early church to do the "children's time." I got Dad up, put on his pajama bottoms and fed him breakfast. Van stayed home with him. I stayed late, because we had a covered dish lunch and my committee helped set up and clean up. When I got home, Dad was out in his swing. I did a few chores and then got Dad inside. We both napped for a while. We went back outside this afternoon and looked at the paper. After dinner, Dad got back in his recliner. I spent about an hour filling out paperwork for his respite care. I am leaving Wednesday for my annual trip with my two college buddies! They are both speech therapists. It is the twelfth year that we have gone to our cabin in the mountains. We have a ball. We talk, talk, talk and play cards and cook and eat and play! Dad will be going to the Black Mountain Neuromedical Center for respite care. The state run facility has a six bed unit for patients with Alzheimer's. It is really nice, with beautiful grounds. The people there are great. The patients have to meet certain criteria and then they can stay for up to 30 days during the course of a year. It's been a great way for our family to be able to take some vacations or just take a break from care-giving and know that Dad is being cared for. I'm planning on trying to post a few blogs before I go, since I won't be blogging for several days. I've wanted to tell a few stories and some things that mom dealt with and I thought it would be a good time for that! I just got Dad in bed. He didn't want to get out of his chair to get in bed tonight. Then he wasn't big on brushing his teeth. When I told him we needed to change his underwear, he said, "I'll just leave these on." I know how he feels sometimes! We have to make an effort to do lots of things!! I finally got him taken care of and he's laying in bed with his arms folded up behind his head, probably wondering what I'm doing on this computer!.............Susie