Author: nurtureyrheart

Mom, Wife, Grandma, Full-time Elder-Care giver; Multi-media Artist, Word-Smith

Be a good listener.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Suspicions confirmed. A fractured rib is causing the pain. He finally relented and okayed a trip to Urgent Care yesterday. I’m glad and it seemed to relieve his anxiety some hearing the dr’s findings after the x-rays were read. The pain only occurs when he is moving around, so he didn’t want to walk or move much to cause more discomfort. His instructions from the dr were for him to keep moving, lots of deep breathing exercises and when he is resting to use the heat packs and take tylenol as directed. The one thing he wasn’t happy to hear was that the pain would last for an additional couple of weeks….

POSITIVES:
He showed lots of patience and kindness to medical personnel that were trying to help him while at the very busy Urgent Care.
Joking around — and throwing out a few zingers over the course of the day and into the evening.
Willing to try to change a couple of things in his routine for the day for a few weeks. (We’ll see how that really rolls out — but it’s good to see that he’s willing to be a little flexible right now.)

one step

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Not the best day to get a haircut according to dad. Busy morning at their usual barbershop. All eight chairs filled and usually there’s no line, but there was today and all of the barbers were feeling rushed and he didn’t get the best of haircuts or shave and even got nicked a couple of times. He did say things evened out when they followed that with lunch at one of his favorite restaurants. The servers recognize him, know what he’s going to order and have it out of the kitchen and on his table quickly! He still had a little bbq sauce on his face when he got home.

It was a day filled with football, popcorn and soda – with a bit of gatorade tossed in to keep him a little more hydrated. We did get a phone call through to one of the members of the family he wanted to talk to, but he still wanted to go take a drive and visit the other one at work and have a long talk…. thankfully, he backed down from that.
Recently and more often than not, he gets really confused after the end of a phone call or facetime call and continues to carry on a conversation with whoever is in the room with him as if that person was the same one he had just been talking to just a few moments earlier. It’s been difficult for him to transition from the end of a call to the next thing.

POSITIVES:
No vivid dream issues after a nap or during the night
Only up once during the night —
Good spirits. Laughter, smiles and even a few zingers here and there during one of the football games.
NO NEWS!

no regrets

CAREGIVER NOTES:
Another night of trying to keep from being dragged into the rabbit hole. I’m really hoping we can move past the storyline that’s been created in his mind and keeps getting worse as each day passes. He can’t seem to let it go — we checked his financials to show him that what he thought had been happening wasn’t. But that still didn’t convince him.

I’m really hoping the vivid dreams subside for a while again. We had two days of good sleep, but we’re back into the old cycle and the change in meds isn’t helping as much as we’d hoped. Of course, it’s very likely that the events earlier this week have precipitated this.

POSITIVES:
He requested take out for dinner and ate everything on his plate (our treat).
He enjoyed a visit with a grandson and talked about some of his memories with him as a child

10.11.24

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Tough day and evening, period. His trip into the rabbit hole of a situation he had been concerned about could have been much worse. He went to bed early, too early. Was back up within an hour — after having a vivid dream. The dream opened the rabbit hole. Once he dips a toe into the rabbit hole, it takes what seems forever to close the hole even for a short period of time. He went back to bed about 2 hours later. It wasn’t a good night — he was pretty restless, but wasn’t wandering overnight. He’s already checking his watch this morning and is a bit restless. Fingers crossed today will be a better day.

I think the part that hurt the most last evening was his not recognizing T (his son) even after T reintroduced himself. That was hard.

POSITIVES:
He gave some kudos to a grandchild for a favor delivered
He didn’t lose his temper and lash out.
He wanted to apologize for questioning what he finally realized the situation was resolved and taken care of and he didn’t have to take any further steps

Make time today

CAREGIVER NOTES:
Much better day overall. He took 2 walks outside. We will likely need to resume some PT for his hip as he was having some hip pain — though some of that could be the result of his fall from the day before. We’ll see how things go today during our afternoon “stroll.”

Still no answers as to what he wants to do — suggestions are still falling flat. Puzzles, card games, computer games, painting larger items, looking through memory books and family history stuff (I have all of the family binders).

POSITIVES:
Good spirits all day
Enjoyed a visit with his youngest son for about an hour during the evening
Slept all night

10.9.24

There is beauty in hard things…

CAREGIVER NOTE:

He had a difficult afternoon into early evening. He kept saying he was sick but not what was wrong or why he felt sick. He didn’t want any family help or outside help. He got very angry and was slamming doors and then leaving the house (thankfully, through the back door and not the front). He wasn’t able to unlock the fence gates and leave the yard. He wanted the keys to the truck and was very mad that I wouldn’t give them to him. He hasn’t had an episode like this for several months. Once he’d settled down, we both apologized — as I hadn’t handled it like I should have either. We looked back at the last couple of days and kind of figured out what might have been going on. He’s still not willing to go to the dr or to Urgent Care. However, he was willing to try a couple of things that might make him feel better.

LATER: We were able to watch one of the shows he really likes (Finding Your Roots) because he’s hoping he’ll find an idea that will open the window or door to finding the links to his great-grandfather and beyond on his paternal line. We’ve been at a standstill on that line for as long as I can remember and even a paid genealogist hasn’t been able to find some additional hints or leads for the family. It was a good episode, however, no no ideas came to light for either of us.

POSITIVES:
He found some quiet reflection time after the outburst.
He was willing to try some easy on the tummy foods for dinner and drink some Gator-ade since he was pretty dehydrated.
He was able to share his feelings without being angry — and tell us a little more about why he was so angry earlier.
He has slept without interruption all night Tuesday.

Take good notes.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Vivid dreams ✓✓
Unmake and remake bed ✓
Dress and undress ✓
It was another one of those nights. I’m really hoping that we’ll see a shift in the circle soon.

POSITIVES:
Sat on the deck enjoying some fresh air for about 30 minutes yesterday
Good conversation throughout most of the day- though I am seeing some faltering in finding words at times
In good spirits for most of the day — no sundowning to speak of, just wanting to go to bed early.

blessings

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Another wild dream last night. Thankfully, it was short-lived and he was able to go back to sleep without any more instances of “visitors and yelling.”

POSITIVES:
A few well intended zingers
He suggested a bath and set the schedule for it
Lots of lucid moments – asking questions about something he seemed very interested in

Do your best every day.  

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Still not having quite the desired results since we updated his night time meds. However, he has slept a full six hours without any talking, yelling or screaming. I’ll take it.

We had a pretty good day overall — and he ate pretty good yesterday, including most of the taco he built on his plate last evening. His plate was full and there was just a bit of meat left – the tortilla (street taco size) and all of the veggies were gone when he was ready to get up from the table. No spices or salsa – were included in his meal.

POSITIVES:
He enjoyed listening to some Easy Listening music last night and made several positive comments about how relaxing it was.
We had a good conversation about the happenings of the day at the dinner table
He enjoyed the surprise treat of some fresh strawberries with his lunch yesterday.