Greatitudes

You make a bigger impact than you realize.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Loneliness is real. He’s the last one and he was feeling it last evening. His parents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sister have all passed on. His wife, and nearly all of his cousins have passed on as well. It has to be hard to feel so alone and not be able to reach out to nearly anyone who is your age as you’ve outlived them all.

Fill the crack with your best efforts.  

CAREGIVER NOTE:

At a loss…. yesterday was an “out of sorts” day from the get go. A small reset worked for part of the day, but not the entire day and we were back to square one with more resets to try to move forward. He’s recognizing that his energy levels are flagging a bit and his eyesight is getting a bit worse. I do hope that today will be a much better day and he’ll be willing to help with some things that I know he can do successfully.

Pause, breathe and reflect.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Sauerkraut is in the crock and the he is thrilled! He didn’t feel like helping shred it, but he was invested in making sure the correct amount of salt was added and that the liquid was over the top of the weights. He remembers that much! We had some good conversation, though the topics got mingled and sometimes a little garbled. Hoping that he’ll have some more lucid moments today — it’s sometimes difficult to go down the rabbit hole with some of his thoughts.

Look with your heart.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Lucid. Somedays, I wonder if we’ll have just one or two moments. The dementia is progressing and short term memory is fading evening more. During a call yesterday with a close family member, he asked the same question 3 times in succession and still couldn’t recall the answer that was given. And if you don’t respond quick enough, he figures you don’t have an answer and he’ll move on to ask the question again. It’s becoming more difficult to find things he would like to do and that he feels he can do. His long range eyesight is becoming worse and there’s no “fix.” He feels useless at times but doesn’t want to even try to do some things. We are grateful for each moment he is with us… despite the ups and downs. The good moments are the reflection of what’s gone well at the end of the day and oftentimes his long term memories are what he chooses to share.