CAREGIVER NOTE:
We spent nearly an hour outside yesterday. It was so nice and he loved the watching the birds flying to and from the feeders, listening to the sounds in the air and watching the clouds move across the sky and behind the mountain to the east.
POSITIVES:
Laughter and smiles
Compassion for his dog
Expressions of thanks for the little things
Despite the challenges of the day, count your blessings. There are many.
CAREGIVER NOTE:
He’s been a little gentler the last couple of days. Kinder with his words and trying to listen a little more as he tries to process what he’s been hearing. He has been worried about “losing his mind” a lot more and has been noticing that it is much more difficult for him to get things to “stick.” My heart hurts for him and his children — as we see him drifting further and further into the depths of dementia.
Positives:
Music – he’s really enjoying the easy listening channel I recently discovered. It really does calm him a bit
Clouds – he enjoys watching the clouds and didn’t mind feeling the first few drops of rain before moving back into the house
Antiques Roadshow — he sure is glad we don’t have any of that so called “junk” around here as he’s just not sure what he’d do with it if he had it. LOL
CAREGIVER NOTE
Change is inevitable with dementia. It looks like he’s entering the next stage. He’s getting “lost” in the house more frequently – not sure where things are or how to do things he has been very familiar with. His short term memory is almost non-existent. He’s having a more difficult time with conversation and finding words.
On the up side: I did find a music channel he seems to enjoy listening to. I caught him moving his feet to the rhythm of the music and even do a little humming to some of the more familiar tunes he heard. I think/hope we’ll be playing some music for a little while every day.
Positives for the day:
He wanted to go out for breakfast with T
He enjoyed going shopping at the bookstore with T
He was all smiles.
Hoping each sunset you take time to see takes your breath away and reminds you of the gifts you’ve received that day.
CAREGIVER NOTE
The proverbial rabbit hole was present for most of the afternoon and early evening. He kept finding ways to dive right in and it took lots of effort to get him out of there.
Positives for the day:
smiles and laughter along with his one liners
wanting connection and conversation
he ate and wanted a healthy snack
CAREGIVER NOTE:
Back in time was the order of the day. A little messy since he felt he really needed to talk to his Uncle and explain why he couldn’t help at the farm and drive one of the teams and he wanted to talk to other members of his family – they’re all long gone. I felt so bad having to tell him that I didn’t have phone numbers for any of them. He realized how “alone” he was a little later and he shed a few tears. That has to be so hard! He asked again how old he was and asked why he was still here….
Positives of the day:
He popped off a few zingers
He didn’t stay in the “rabbit hole” of sadness for very long
He even suggested looking for something good that was going on in the day.
CAREGIVER NOTE:
Much better sleep cycle overnight. He enjoyed watching the news during the day and some pro football last evening before calling it a day. (He was even doing a little back seat quarterbacking during a couple of quarters.) He chose not to venture outside yesterday. He ate really light all day… not sure if that was because he was still having some gut issues from the night before or not. He couldn’t pinpoint his food choices for the day other than they just sounded good.
Greatitudes 