CAREGIVER NOTE:

He’s been pretty confused the last couple of days… with just about everything. It’s been a bit more difficult the last few days as we’ve gone over and over the same things — and he’s still not able to “plant” the memory/fact for more than 30 seconds or so. He becomes frustrated more easily when things don’t stick and he begins to fuss over things. Sitting next to him helps calm him most of the time, and just letting him talk and answer his questions diffuses the situation a little. He’s sundowning more frequently in the late afternoons.

He’s still able to eat and dress himself and take care of himself in the bathroom most of the time. He has asked for some help recently, but not every day. He makes his bed and makes decisions regarding most of his meals and snacks for the day. He is not wanting to use the walker and holding onto furniture and the walls are his “helpers,” even though we have two walkers at the ready for him to use.

Recently, he’s decided the deck is a nice place to sit and watch the clouds as I’ve shared previously. He even mentioned eating dinner outside last evening, however, when we told him what the temp would be, he said, “that could wait for a few days when it was a bit, no make that a lot warmer.”

His three good things for the day yesterday were that his sons were good to keep in touch with him and share their lives with him. The food was good and thirdly, he was happy here.

It’s a brand new day — make it the best yet.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Annual physical went as expected. Not much in the way of change. He still doesn’t want to use the walker around the house even though she strongly recommended that he do so. She’s a good dr, and I wish she wasn’t retiring at the end of the year. She was a little worried about his weight loss, but we attributed that to the illness/COVID he had a week or so ago. He was only taking a bite or two of food and then pushing away the tray. He did have some blood work done and we should have those results in the next couple of days. She also recommended he add a couple of scoops of ice cream to his weekly diet to help put the weight back on. 🙂

Take every opportunity to paint the day your shade of beautiful.

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.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Celebrating his going outside to sit in the sunshine for a few minutes yesterday. He heard a dove cooing in the tree across the fence line, a neighbor’s dog barking with another dog a yard away. The song birds were singing too and we could hear the kids from next door playing with each other. He was happy with all the “noise” and a bit of fresh air. The temps were perfect and little to no breeze. He was content for about 15 minutes before asking to go back inside. I doubt we’ll make it outside today with anticipated rain and wind, but we’ll see if there’s a break and he’ll agree to at least walk around the deck a couple of times.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

He really enjoyed watching (actually, it was more like binge watching) an old TV series yesterday. Actually didn’t even ask to watch the news at all. Quite the change from previous days — though it will likely be back to the news again today. The break was nice and grateful it’s on a free app and we have unlimited streaming/data. He’s been in pretty good spirits overall, though there’s still some confusion most days. No sundowning yesterday at all — and he even asked for a second piece of chicken at dinnertime and ate it without sharing with the dog. 🙂 He said he was starving!

(image credit: doodlesndreams)
CAREGIVER NOTE:
Not much in the way of new stories, but he does get disregulated if someone isn’t in the same room with him. He’s adapting to the change in time — and with daylight getting a little longer, he’s not sundowning as much either. He’s eating well and really enjoys a bowl of popcorn or ice cream in the evening. Popcorn, however, is his favorite!