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!

It’s a good day to leave it behind.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Third night in a row of the same or very similar vivid dream for him. He was up twice overnight trying to figure out where he was and how he got out of the house and was able to get back in again (even though he hadn’t been outside). I can say he was quite pleasant in his confusion and was laughing as he re-discovered the layout of the main floor of the house and the furniture in his bedroom. He also figured out that the windows in his room weren’t doors and that access to his closet was only available from one side and not from his adjoining bathroom.

It has been interesting to watch this shift in how he handles the dreams right now – we don’t see the anger as much as we’ve seen in the past several months. He can be moody at times, though. He was cheerful as he watched the snow fall yesterday. Once again the flakes were large enough for him to see from his chair across from the window. He was amazed that the snow had melted all away as we took a very short stroll out to the deck in the afternoon to sit in the sun for a few minutes and laughed at the thought that Spring was just around the corner but it still felt a little like winter.

Celebrate the moments throughout your day.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

The “niggling” was back. Not sure what the trigger is, but it took nearly 24 hours to resolve it this time. 2 phone calls and numerous text messages later, he was finally able to release the tension and anxiety over a nonexistent event — at least for the time being. I’m not holding my breath as the “problem” is an evolving iteration of the last two but all based around the same beginning story. So whether this iteration is the last one or just another layer on something yet to be shared over the course of the next days, weeks or months is yet to be seen.

We do appreciate the support we have when it comes to family accepting phone calls that he demands be made when he just has to hear the answer again, but from a different person. So thank you — for EVERYTHING!

CAREGIVER NOTE:

We were up again last evening — thankfully, the situation was easy to handle and he was satisfied after seeing the papers that were printed. He seemed grateful to know that I was aware of things and he was happy to see that the situation wasn’t as bad as he’d been thinking when he first came out of his room.

We talked for a little while longer — he rehashed his earlier concerns and had them worked through when he went back to bed a couple of hours later.

It appears that we’re back in the cycle of 3 to 4 days of minimal night sleep — going to bed earlier and getting up earlier and longer wakeful periods over the course of the night. Not much in the way of naps during the day either and he still doesn’t want to do anything other than watch his news program over the course of the day.

His eating routine is sticking to the 5 or 6 small meals a day… Gray days require more light in the main living areas of the house and in his room over the course of the day. That has helped soften the sundowning a bit and he seems a little more at ease during those late afternoon times too. He’s noticing that his balance is off a bit and that he’s shuffling more — but still refuses to use the walker and prefers having someone walk beside him, so at this time we oblige him when he asks for that help.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Listen to the stories! There’s often a silver lining in them.

we’ll make it through this together.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

We made it through a very long night of no sleep — he was agitated about something, but didn’t vocalize it. He did say he wanted to talk to his “CFO” but after check his watch and the clock repeatedly he realized that everyone would be sleeping…. but he wasn’t ready to go back to bed. In his mind, everyone should be up and ready to handle his problem within the hour… so, I asked him to tell me about the places he and his family had lived while he was in the military and I shared a few stories from my childhood which stirred a few memories of his own. The agitation finally dissipated and he was ready to go back to bed about 4 hours later. Hoping for a good day today.