Month: April 2024

4.30.24

CAREGIVER NOTE:

COVID – not sure I need to say more, but it has been quite the thing for the last 2 weeks. Everyone is finally on the mend and no one had to be hospitalized, thankfully. We were able to get Paxlovid for two of the 3 family members that tested positive. It helped immensely and both were COVID free before the end of the course of treatment. Lingering coughs seem to be the only outlier at the moment. Hopefully, those will go away within the next couple of weeks.

The weather has been Springlike — still using the furnace at night, but having to turn on the AC during the afternoon warmth of the day. The trees are greening up and the grass is looking pretty lush at the moment. The garden is planted with all his favorites: corn, cabbage, tomatoes and potatoes. And we have flowers in several pots around the yard. We are hoping to get the last of the flowers planted and maybe have some dahlias by mid to late summer. He is looking forward to some time watching the gardens grow over the course of the next couple of months.

Share a few “smiles” today. 

CAREGIVER NOTE:
He’s waking up with a smile most mornings — and there’s a sparkle in his eyes. He’s generally the first to say “good morning,” as he shuffles from his bedroom to the living room. He was happy to spend a little time outside yesterday — he kept mentioning how blue the sky was and noticed that there weren’t too many clouds either – just a few very light wispy ones. He heard one of the national guard helicopters fly by, but couldn’t really see it.

Frequently, we hear he wants to do something useful, but doesn’t know what that is — most ideas are met with a “no, I can’t do that,” answer. We’ve been batting zero again in that realm on a daily basis. He’s content to sit in his chair and watch the news most days. He does ask questions for clarification on a few things, but for the most part, just listens. Hoping we can get him out tomorrow to let him pick out some plants for the garden and get a few in the ground by the end of the weekend and maybe pick up a few flowers to brighten up the landscape.

seek beauty

Seek the beautiful things in your world today. 

CAREGIVER NOTE:

I think we finally narrowed down the “worry,” he’s had for the last several days (and nights) and we may have come up with a resolution he could live with — at least for the moment. He was able to go back to bed and has pretty much slept through the rest of the night. We’ll see what today brings.

plant a little positivity

plant a little positivity/kindness along your path today.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
He was pretty impressed with the eclipse yesterday. We watched it on TV as the totality moved from south to north in the eastern part of the country. We only had a partial eclipse here, but he didn’t want to venture outside — he was pretty amazed at how things went dark so quickly and then returned to light.

He’s been up for a second night in a row — but not as long or late as the night before. There is something bugging him, but he hasn’t been able to verbalize it or put a finger on it to let us know yet. He has been sundowning more regularly – little more anxious about things as things progress in the evenings even though the days are getting longer. He’s stirring now, so we’ll see how soon he’s up for the day.