Monday, November 29, 2010

Mondays are hard after a holiday! I think they are hard for Dad, too. He did get up this morning to use the bathroom, just in time for me to get him dressed. That helped. He pleasantly undressed and then put on his t-shirt, shirt, depend, pants, belt, watch, and hearing aid with some assistance from me. Then he sat at the bar and took his medicine with his juice. He was drinking a cup of coffee and looking at yesterdays paper when I left for work. I picked him up at Life Care about 5:15. Only one other person was still waiting for their caregiver. He seemed happy, sitting in a chair with his coat on. We went to straight Mudbones, because Simon was playing the guitar again. Dad watched everyone and read the menu over and over. He smiled at me a lot and winked. He ate a vegetable plate. After he ate, Van took him to the bathroom to clean his teeth. We stayed for a couple of hours and then I decided we ought to head home. Dad got up with me and holding my hand, walked toward the door. As soon as I opened the door, the cold air came in and Dad decided he didn't want to go out. He pulled me back and said, "I don't want to go out there." I said, "We have to go home." He pulled me again and said, "I'm not going out there." We struggled back and forth for a minute. Our friends in Mudbones, saw my dilemma and smiled and laughed. I laughed too, continuing to try to get him to go out the door. Harry saw me and came to help, but we still couldn't get Dad to go out. Peter came to the rescue and finally got Dad to go out with me! When we got home, Dad didn't want to get out of the car. I told him it was getting colder and it looked like rain, and he needed to come in the house. He said, "I'm okay right here." I told him we needed to go in the warm house and get a blanket. He didn't like it, but he let me help him get out of the car and in to the house. "Lordy, Lordy, Landlordy!!!" Susie

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Well, the Thanksgiving holiday is coming to a close. It has been really nice to sleep in, both for me and for my dad. I got a lot done as well. My friend, Pam, helped me decorate my Christmas tree last night and I finished most of my other decorations today. I don't go all out; just put a few sentimental things around. My Christmas tree is beautiful. It has lots of colored lights and it's loaded with ornaments. Dad enjoys sitting in his recliner and looking at it. He wasn't interested in helping us decorate it, though! I got his medicine ready for the week and his clothes ready for tomorrow. I just finished giving him a shower. It was so funny tonight. I decided not to wash his hair, so after I made sure he used soap on his face and then on his body and bottom, I sat in the bathroom and read the paper while he finished up. He would peek out around the curtain. I would say, "Are you finished?" He would say, "No, not yet." In just a minute, he would peek out again, and again I would say, "Are you ready to get out?" He would say, "No, not yet" or "Almost." I think he did that about 15 times before he was ready. After I got him to shave and brush his teeth, we sat at the bar for a while. I decided to have him go through the picture cards. He correctly named 44 out of 87 pictures. I noticed more difficulty with his word retrieval. He said corn for lettuce and band for bus. He said knife for pen and for scissors. He called cheese, ice cream and said transfire for firetruck. Some of the pictures he was not able to name last time, he could name, and vice versa. Last night, after I got Dad in bed, I took his blood sugar. I dispose the needle and strip in old medicine bottles. As I was doing that, the bottle fell over and the needles and strips hit the floor and went everywhere. I got down on the floor and was reaching under the bed and under the chair to get them all up. When I finished, I looked up and Dad was looking at me with this big smile on his face. He said, "Susie, what are you looking for?" It was so funny that I didn't even realize he had been wondering what on earth I was doing! Back to work tomorrow......... Susie

Thankful Heart

I'm thinking about Alzheimer's. I'm thinking about how my Dad's stage in this process is different from many and yet the same as most. Dad's progression with Alzheimer's is ever so slow. I think it has been so slow, that Dad has known he was getting Alzheimer's and knew what that process meant in many ways. I also believe that for my dad, he has always been a happy person, a true soul, a giver. I think it has made a difference in his disease. With medicine, he was brilliant because it never bothered him to say he didn't know something. And he always knew when he needed to know more. As I watch him each day, I see slight changes in all his abilities. His walk is much, much slower. It is a shuffle most of the time. He doesn't want to exert energy to do certain tasks, such as getting up out of his chair, or getting dressed, or even walking to the bathroom. He sits to eat, and eats way too fast, pocketing food in his cheeks. He does clean his mouth out, along with his teeth. He is less and less engaged with things around him; the books, newspaper and magazines. He drifts more and more to his recliner, and sleeps more and more. He has more episodes where he says things repetitively, such as "mini, mini, mini, mini, mini." He knows us less and less. But it also amazes me how brilliant my dad is with his Alzheimer's Disease. It's like he keeps hanging on in there, reaching us in every way he can. What a sad disease. What a sad, sad, disease. Our family is so fortunate that Dad is still happy and still tries to be happy. When things happen, like today, I was changing his depend in the bedroom and he started peeing on the floor, you just have to realize that this is part of that whole process. My mom went through lots of the process of Dad's dementia. I think back now about how it really wore on her. Dad use to take his truck over to his friend's houses. My mom loved it because it gave her a break! When Dad got to where he was having trouble getting home, Mom knew it was time for her to take his license. That was hard, not just for my dad, but also for my mom. I wish I had known to give my mom one day a week to care for Dad. Just a break. That's why I'm thankful this holiday season for my family and friends and all the support they give me as a caregiver..... Susie

Friday, November 26, 2010

I guess I've taken a respite from blogging! Our computer has still had some issues. Also, I've been busy with the Thanksgiving holidays and just needing to chill out. My back and neck has still been bothering me. I've decided it's stress! Really, I think some of the things I do, is having an effect on my back. When I think about it, I bend over a lot when I dress and undress Dad and when I change him and when I get him up from sitting and in and out of the car, etc. I'm going to get it checked out next week. We've had a good week. On Monday night, Simon played the guitar again at Mudbones. I took Dad and he enjoyed the crowd there. A friend of mine had her grandbaby there and brought him over to Dad. Dad's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. His smile was beaming as he sat and looked at the baby. He would say "ooooo, oooo, ahhhhh, ahhh," and raise and lower his eyebrows and laugh. It was precious. You could see a connection there with them, like going back in time for Dad. Right after my friend left the table, I said, "You liked that didn't you?" Dad said, "Liked what?" I said, "Liked seeing that baby!" Dad said, "What baby?" It's amazing. I ordered Dad a vegetable plate for supper. It was the 2nd anniversary party at Mudbones and a buffet was set up. After Dad ate, he kept trying to get up and walk toward the bar to get food. We had to keep stopping him. Once he got pretty determined to make it over there and kept trying to get by me. I decided it was time to take him home. It was a good thing because when we got in the car, I could smell him. He had a major poop! I changed him and cleaned him up when we got home. Peter kept Dad on Tuesday and David kept him Wednesday. I got some things done and started back going to yoga on Tuesday. Yea!! I hope it will help my back. On Wednesday, Dad went to Life Care and Zeb and I went to Boone to do some things. We got a Christmas tree on the way home. Later, we went to a party and had a great time. Simon picked up Dad at David's and Papaw sat while Van and I went to hear music at Barley's. We had a great Thanksgiving day yesterday. We went to Van's aunt's house at 1:00 and to Betsy's at 7:00. We took a short nap in between. We had a great visit with our families! Today we just hung out and relaxed. No shopping for me!!! A good friend, who used to stay with my Dad, came to visit us. She has moved to Kentucky. She helped us care for Dad for about a year and a half. It was great to see her! Hopefully, now that I have taken a little break from blogging, I can get back at it!!! Susie

November 21, 2010

Simon got our computer up and running this afternoon. I have had a really busy weekend. Zeb came home for the weekend and brought several friends from App with him. They were all racing in Hendersonville on Saturday and Sunday. I cooked dinner for everyone Friday and Saturday night. I feel like I've been cooking all weekend! We had a really good time and it was great to get to spend time with Zeb and his friends. Dad pretty much just hung out all weekend. He didn't interact much with everyone. He would respond to people but he usually sat in his chair. He said the Lord's Prayer for everyone last night. At the end, he said as usual, "Forever and ever and ever and ever... Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.... It was great. I went to church after all the kids left. When I got home, Van had cleaned the kitchen - bless his heart! Right after I got home, I was putting clothes in the wash and heard Van yelling. Dad had gotten out of his chair and had walked to the front door and was peeing on the floor. I got him to the bathroom and helped Van clean it up. I fed Dad lunch and then he sat outside in the sun. After I finished a few chores, I went outside to sit with him. I've been so busy this weekend that I felt like I had not been able to spend much time with Dad. I clipped my nails and then his. While I was filing my nails, Dad asked, "Whose house is this?" I told him it was mine and Van's. He asked, "Who lives in that house?" I told him he and Van and Simon and I lived in the house. He said, "It's a nice house, how long have you had it?" He kept asking those same questions over and over. After supper, I got Dad in the shower. I have learned that I do much better when he knows nothing about it. I guess I almost trick him. I took him back to the bathroom and had him undress piece at a time. He seems to be so focused on what I'm asking him to do that he doesn't realize I'm getting him undressed for the shower. Once he's naked, I have him step in to the tub. He doesn't want to, but I have him feel the warm water and he ends up being okay with it! He took a good long shower and I washed his hair. I got him back in his chair and he's been saying some unusual things. He asked me to get him some ginger ale. He hasn't asked for ginger ale in ages. He kept asking Van about the football game, like who was playing. Then he would say, "Well, it doesn't matter anyway." Once he called out "Ann." He hasn't done that in quite a while either. I'm ready to get him in the bed. Thank heavens I only work two days this week. I'm looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday!........ Susie

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Dad had an eye appointment yesterday afternoon. When I got to Life Care, he was sitting in a recliner with other folks all around. I asked if he was ready to go and he said, "Go where?" I said, "You have an appointment with the eye doctor." He said, "Oh hell." Everybody laughed. We walked out to the car and I opened the door for him and as usual he said, "Do I get in here?" As we started off, he asked again, "Where are we going?" I told him and he said, "Why are we going to the eye doctor?" I explained he had a place on his eye that was bothering him and the doctor was going to fix it. He said, "Bullsh*t". I thought, "Oh goodness, he is really full of himself today - no telling what will happen at the doctor's office!" We didn't wait for long to get in a room. The nurse asked us some questions and then said "The doctor will be in shortly." Dad said, "Who?" She repeated and Dad said, "What Dr.?" While we waited, Dad kept counting the numbers that lit up. He would say "123-456", 123-456, 123-456...." over and over. He got louder and then he whispered. Then he started picking up the instrument that has a light and he would try to turn it on. He would hold out his hand to see if it was shining. Then he would forget where he got it and hand it to me. I would show him where it went. A minute later, he would do the same thing again. Then he reached over to the light switches and turned the lights on and off. He would look over at me and smile. Lately, when he is waiting for something he will crease his pants up at the top of his thigh and press the crease over and over. After we saw the doctor and made an appointment for surgery, we walked toward the receptionist desk. He reached over and opened the case that holds the fire extinguisher. Someone stopped us in the waiting area and asked me if that was Dr. Lane. They were excited to see him and said he was a great doctor. After Dad and I got back in the car, Dad looked over at me and said, "Susie, thank you for everything you're doing." I couldn't believe it! I took out my paper and wrote it down......... Susie

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

I picked Dad up at Life Care and we went to Mudbones for dinner. Simon was playing guitar and lots of friends and family came to cheer him on. Dad enjoyed being in the crowd. After he ate, Van took him to the bathroom to clean his teeth. We stayed for a couple of hours and then headed home. When we got home, I was going to have him put his pajamas on but he did not want to take off his fleece vest and he said he didn't want to change. I left him in his clothes, put on his house shoes and he sat in his recliner and watched Dancing with the Stars, which he likes. I got some things done around the house and decided to go to bed around 9:30. I went ahead and got him in bed. I got up twice during the night to change him and both times it was pretty easy. He got up readily this morning as well. Thank heavens! That does make things easier! Peter will be picking him up tonight for dinner. I have a hair appointment and my computer at home has crashed so I'm fixing to leave work and will have to share more tomorrow!..........Susie