caregiver

See the magic in everyday things

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Another 3 am wake up – he was lost again and was knocking on his door. Thankfully, after a little bit, he was able to recognize things in his room that made it “his.” He spent another couple of hours earlier in the day being worried about things on the “farm.” He shared several of the stories from the day before again and then needed to make a call to one of the boys. Once that was handled, he wasn’t so worried again.

He chose to binge watch a whole season of Finding Your Roots last evening. He really enjoyed it and wasn’t ready to call it a day until the credits of the last episode rolled through.

cha-cha

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Yesterday was story day. Lots of stories and lots of repeats. No new stories but you could see and feel them as he told them. He laughed, he cried – he added a few new bits here and there, but no big differences from previous shares. He was happy to share for several hours — and I’m pretty sure it made the “losses” a little easier to handle in the moment as he realized they were gone and he couldn’t just reach out to talk to them right then.

optimism

CAREGIVER NOTE:

I was awakened to seeing the mattress being lifted and watching him take the safety rails off the bed last night. He couldn’t tell me why he was taking them off — but while doing so, he did break the railing locks on one side. I’ve ordered a new set of rails and they’ll be here tomorrow. OI! We had to remake the bed 2 times since I would just get things put back together and he would take them off again without telling me why he was doing it. He’s resting again now, but I worry about his safety getting up and staying on the bed at night. Another phase to work through.

On the plus side, earlier in the day he’d been so proud of himself…. he’s discovered he’d put his shoe on the wrong foot and was able to correct that without getting too distressed over it — and even prouder that he didn’t need to ask for help! (sometimes, it is the little things that need to be remembered).

8.14.24

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Daytime hallucinations — they’re becoming a little more frequent of late. Yesterday, he wanted to catch up with his siblings again after spending time with them in the last day or so… He wanted to know why one of them would have moved to another city further away and while he was happy to see them, he had figured out in his own mind that they would have been over 110 if they’d really spent the afternoon together celebrating his 92 birthday. He was terribly confused but not angry about things — as he worked through the “visit.” I noticed that as he was contemplating this, there were smiles and even a chuckle or two. I’m really glad the time spent was good.

It’s time. Be your best you!

CAREGIVER NOTE:
He’s showed some interest in a current creative project – now to find a way for him to help more fully with it as we have at least 75 of each of the components to cut, shape and ink before assembly. I’m hoping I can find a way to have him help and be a part of this project a little more fully. We’ll try a few things today if he’s still interested.

 Need a change?

CAREGIVER NOTE:

No meltdowns over the weekend. He did have some questions about this house and why he was here…. He says he likes it here, still. So that’s good. When asked what he likes — he did say he likes the food a lot and he has a nice room to sleep in. We watched a bit of Antiques Roadshow once I could get him away from the news for a bit. He enjoys seeing the things people bring in for appraisals. He does have trouble following things at times and often gets confused — but it is something he does enjoy especially when he recognizes or has some familiarity with an item or the host city.

Be the good….

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Plugged toilet, flooded floors and more were the start to the day. Thankfully, the plug was easy to clear. Floors easy to mop and clean… but the drip into the basement will take a little longer to dry. Just grateful he came out to tell me there was a problem before it got any worse.

He doesn’t know who plugged the toilet –No blame from me as accidents do happen and I was okay with having to clean things up and sanitize surfaces wall to wall so he could use the bathroom when he needed to. Once that process was completed he had to check things out and flush the toilet about 10 times to make sure things wouldn’t back up again before he felt things were fixed and he could use the bathroom again.