CAREGIVER NOTE:

Yesterday got off to a rocky start…. thankfully, it ended on a good note with all the boys checking in. We did miss one call and hope to hear from that son sometime today. He’s had an interesting night with some pretty coherent conversation going on. He must have been dreaming about a good experience during his military times — one segment dealt with his asking the “boys” about their rations. I wish I would have recorded it now. No yelling, no screaming or asking anyone to leave. It was quite pleasant for a change.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

3 years ago today, Mom passed away. Alzheimer’s no longer had a hold on her. For that I’m grateful. We had many hard times and many difficult days — but there were lots of fun and joy filled times as well. I miss you Mom. I wish we’d had a little more time together, but I do treasure the time we did have and that our relationship as daughter and mother drew us all the closer, especially during our 5 1/2 years of caring for you full time. It was definitely our pleasure to do so. LOVE YOU and miss you dearly. Till we meet again.

CAREGIVER NOTES:
Holidays are difficult. I’ve noticed that if he remembers what day it is, he lingers a little longer studying the picture of his wife in the mornings and is a little more melancholy during the day. He spent a little bit of time outside yesterday afternoon, and was even happier to hear that the row of cabbage survived the last frost! It was about the only thing that did! He’ll be really excited to watch the garden grow from his new perch on the deck this summer.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
He thought he’d misplaced a letter and was worried about not responding to it in time…. it took nearly 3 hours for him to work through the issue. Searching drawers, bookcases, tables, anywhere there might be a piece of paper he thought might be what he was looking for. The letter never existed and despite our sharing some details with him after he shared what he thought he remembered, he was still up and searching every 3 – 5 minutes. ( He did get a bit of exercise in with all the walking, however) Luckily, he wound down over dinner and that seemed to be the end of the problem for the evening. We’ll see if it rears up again today, though I really hope not.

Take it one day, one hour, one minute, one moment at a time.