…where every leaf is a flower.  Albert Camus

CAREGIVER NOTE:

The mountains to the east of us are showing off their fall colors. He’s amazed at how quickly the leaves have turned into their beautiful colors…. it’s time to start clearing the garden and prepping it for a winter’s sleep. He’s remembering his garden at the homestead and days long gone. Most of the memories are good and a gift to his heart… he’s also missing his family a lot and yesterday was wishing for some companionship from someone closer to his age. Not sure I can pull that one off.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

It’s definitely fall weather and cool enough that he needs a little more warmth to be comfortable. We flipped the switch from AC to Heat yesterday — he was thrilled! He still wore a heavy sweater for most of the day while things warmed up enough to his liking. He found a bit of loose yarn to play and pull on – thankfully, he didn’t undo any stitches in it while tugging on it or else the sweater might not have been fixable. I’ve re-secured the yarn into the sweater and hopefully, he won’t be minus a sweater on the cooler days that are coming our way for a bit longer this season.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Memories were a big part of the day. Stories that hadn’t been shared previously. Experiences that seemed like they happened yesterday – because in his mind they did. Sharing the day with him was a joy as he shared a portion of a day in the life of … with me. Looking forward to another similar experience in the days to come as the long term memories are vivid and so close to the surface.

One smile can make a world of difference.

with smiles and bursts of laughter.  

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.

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.

CAREGIVER NOTES:

Some days are just better than others…. looking forward to a good day today.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Time spent with an old friend lifted the spirits a great deal yesterday. The friend even brought an old calendar that had vintage photos of the area they’d both lived in — but Dad had the stories to go with the photos. It was fun to hear the stories unfold and was good for both of them to hear the different perspectives the photo brought out.