caregiver

11.13.23

CAREGIVER NOTE:

We had the “talk” last evening. He initiated it and was wondering if we had intentions of putting him into a nursing home if his memory issues got worse. We told him we were in for the long haul and he was here with us for the rest of his life. We talked about the living arrangements — his bedroom, the bathroom and time with family. He seemed very happy and relieved about that as he understood (for a little while, at least) that his former home has been sold and no longer belongs to him and he can’t go back there to live. We’ll see how today rolls out…. as it’s unlikely he will remember our visit last evening.

Every blessing is a gift! 

Image Credit: Inspiritivity

CAREGIVER NOTE:

He’s enjoyed having visitors this week. A son and grandson. While this was a “working” trip, they were still able to spend some time together and take care of some family business. Anxiety ran high one day while the son had to be away for most of the day… I’m not sure how he will handle things today as our guests have to fly out in a couple of hours and it’s likely they will miss seeing each other as it’s an early flight.

Memory issues continue to progress. Lots of repetition and reframing throughout the day and evening. He did get a new watch that now tells him the time with the push of a button — He does manage to push the wrong button on occasion and set an alarm or two or reset the time, but we’ve been able to get it back to rights and he’s happy again.

We found a bevy of photos buried in some files on his computer. Oh the memories they hold! We’ve transferred them to an external hard drive for safe keeping — he spent a couple of hours looking through the pictures and was very happy with those memories. We are blessed to have found those and I’m pretty sure he’ll enjoy looking through them again in a day or so.

Opportunities await! 

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Smiles were in abundance late last evening when son #2 arrived for a week long visit. Dad had been very anxious all day long waiting not so patiently for things to fall into place. Traveling across country is a little more complicated it seems now than it had been previously and it’s a whole day of travel for those coming here to visit.

Once they walked through the door, you could see the tension dissipate and relief take its place. And a good night’s sleep was had by all.

What will grab your attention today?

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Another day of reflecting on family members who have passed on. We opened his book of genealogy to share some details with him after he asked for some specifics. Although he was sad to be reminded of their passing, he was filled with gratitude that we were willing to sit and listen while he tried to process things. Recent “dreams” have been pretty lucid and the confusion about who he was seeing and conversing with were very real to him and have made him uncomfortable at times when he realizes the moments were either long ago memories or had never happened… but to him they were very real and vivid.

For the first time ever, no anger was connected to this type of conversation — a brief moment of sadness and then ready to talk about other things and family memories from long ago.