CAREGIVER NOTE:
complained a bit more about the pain yesterday, thankfully, the tylenol helps when he’s willing to take it. He was up and moving a little more, though. That’s a good thing.

POSITIVES:
Zingers – and they were good
Stayed up with a conversation at dinner and participated
Slept all night

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Tough day and evening, period. His trip into the rabbit hole of a situation he had been concerned about could have been much worse. He went to bed early, too early. Was back up within an hour — after having a vivid dream. The dream opened the rabbit hole. Once he dips a toe into the rabbit hole, it takes what seems forever to close the hole even for a short period of time. He went back to bed about 2 hours later. It wasn’t a good night — he was pretty restless, but wasn’t wandering overnight. He’s already checking his watch this morning and is a bit restless. Fingers crossed today will be a better day.

I think the part that hurt the most last evening was his not recognizing T (his son) even after T reintroduced himself. That was hard.

POSITIVES:
He gave some kudos to a grandchild for a favor delivered
He didn’t lose his temper and lash out.
He wanted to apologize for questioning what he finally realized the situation was resolved and taken care of and he didn’t have to take any further steps

some awesome “no word” moments today.

CAREGIVER NOTES:

I do hope the change in his meds will be a good one — Last night’s vivid dream actually got him out of bed and asking for help. I’m glad I was awake enough to be aware of what was happening and could help him work through things. The “shadows” were gone after turning on the lights and he was open to going back to bed after ensuring him that he had done his part and things were going to be okay and everyone was fine. At least it wasn’t the sort of dream that consisted of yelling, screaming and being angry.

POSITIVES:
Flexible in making some last minute changes in the routine for the day
Excited that T was able to spend most of the day with him
Was interested in watching something other than news for several hours

CAREGIVER NOTES:

It was a tough day — two plugged receptacles in the bathroom and of course the accompanying overflow and dripping into the basement on the second go round. He doesn’t remember trying to flush a half roll of TP on the second overflow of the day. I do have to give him credit for trying to clean up a bit, however. Not sure if the mid-day vivid dream/hallucinations and ensuing conversation was the worst thing or not – however, grateful we just happened to have a virtual visit scheduled with his PCP and thankfully, the dr was willing to make an adjustment to his meds and hopefully, that will help as things go on. I’m very glad the dr is willing to listen and understands how dementia progresses and what her patients needs are and has compassion for their caregivers as they navigate this aging process as well.

POSITIVES:
HIs smile was big and broad for most of the day
He ate well during the course of the day – and asked for healthier snacks
Was interested and contributed to a couple of conversations and shared a laugh or two as well.

CAREGIVER NOTE

The proverbial rabbit hole was present for most of the afternoon and early evening. He kept finding ways to dive right in and it took lots of effort to get him out of there.

Positives for the day:
smiles and laughter along with his one liners
wanting connection and conversation
he ate and wanted a healthy snack

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Another flood in the bathroom…. nearly a full roll of TP plugging the commode and water everywhere. He wasn’t coping well, but tried to clean things up before I went to the door to check in on him after hearing water again. Easy fix, he was able to use the room again in pretty good time. This morning will be another wipe down with hopefully, we won’t have another flood at midnight for a while.

Positives for the day:
He reached out to one of his boys – to check up on him
Laughter and smiles
He ate much better and healthier yesterday drinking more water and some gatorade

CAREGIVER NOTE:
He’s been getting “lost” in the house the last week or so. It’s been rather difficult at times to try to help him make his way around and find where he needs to go. We had the case of the missing pants and belt — which he’d taken from another bedroom and moved to his own thinking they were his. Thanks to the baby cam, we were able to find them the following morning. We’re going to have to get a back-up belt just in case this happens again and I’m sure it will — as he’s popping in and out of there more frequently of late.

Lots of conversation yesterday about a sibling — his worries over her land and property which had been sold quite a number of years ago. He wanted to know about her children and where they were and what they were doing now, though he couldn’t recall all of their names without some help. I reached out to one of them and hope to hear back from her today to try to get an update on them all. We’ll see how that goes.

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.