CAREGIVER NOTES:

He was certain that his cousin Ernie had visited us just the other day – but he was terribly disappointed that he hadn’t been able to talk to him and “catch up” on things. He hoped Ernie would come around again soon. He wondered what his folks were doing and if they were staying cool like he was with the AC keeping things at a pleasant temperature in the house. I caught him wiping his eyes several times as the tears fell while he talked and shared a story or two. I felt so sad for him. He reminisced about a few things — including his mom’s garden, Ernie’s service in the Navy and more, so we talked about those things a little longer and after the tears stopped a while later, he was smiling for most of the rest of the afternoon and evening.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

The “new” iPad didn’t hold his interest yesterday… but we assumed that would be the case. It is all set up and ready for him when he does decide to try to use it. He had a pretty good day yesterday…. we laughed a bit, he had a few zingers to share with us and was thrilled with his ribs and corn on the cob for dinner. No evening snacks… he was ready for bed early due to his being up earlier than his norm. He was a little restless last night, but was only up once overnight to use the bathroom. I’d say overall, it was a pretty good day.

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.