CAREGIVER NOTE:

Celebrating the big day today. He’s looking forward to being surrounded by family this evening and hopefully, we’ll even get a big family group shot before the evening is done.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Fixations…. sometimes it’s just difficult to move past these and find another focus. It’s been better for us to just sit down and let him talk it through. Whether it’s something going on personally or within the household that is worrying, he needs to be heard and not brushed off. We spent a good two hours discussing the possibilities of a change in jobs for my husband. Little did I know or understand how much that worried him. He thought that the change would mean we would have to move and that he might lose his place with us here – that there wouldn’t be room for him or we wouldn’t want him to stay with us. He wanted to know if we were looking for a new house and if we would be selling ours. We talked through each of his concerns. He seemed relieved and at peace when he finally went to bed. I hope that he will remember that we’re not moving and that he will always have a place with us during our conversations today — but if he doesn’t, I’ll gladly sit down with him and we’ll talk it through again.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Remember to count those blessings at the end of the day — it eases the stress of the day as much for you as it does for them.

Pause and reflect on the things that bring you joy and happiness each day.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

I see more moments of daydreaming of days gone by… memories passing and occasionally a sweet memory will bring a tear or two. He’s still very mobile and took an unaccompanied walk out the front door yesterday without our noticing for a minute. Luckily, he didn’t get past the yard’s boundaries. He was happy to come back inside where it was much cooler after being outside in the heat. Guess the locks will stay turned from now on.

At the end of each day to….

Seek the beauty in the world around you today. 

CAREGIVER NOTE:
It seems that he’s still hung up on a few events from his past. Another flurry of conversations regarding a document and thoughts that there’s just something that’s not quite right. He did tell another part of the longer story around the main event, and he does have all those details correct. He’s still thinking it happened just a few day ago. He can’t seem to grasp that it happened 50+ years ago and everyone associated with the event is as old or older than he is and wouldn’t have much recollection of that specific moment any longer.

We did make a quick trip to the dr’s office for a possible UTI, but that has been initially ruled out. Still waiting on the culture results. He has an ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday to check for a blockage and a referral to a urologist here in the area (this has been a problem previously). We’ve requested copies of his records from the doctor he saw last year so we can get those into his records here. The dr was really sweet with Dad and he appreciated her thoughtfulness and kindness while he was in the office.

Find peace in the pause today.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

We used some muscles we hadn’t used in a while the other day while building that plow in the garage. He’s sore and finally admitting it! He had us both laughing pretty hard as he talked about his “sitter” being sore and his steps a little slower during our walk. He couldn’t imagine that our “hard work” was causing so much discomfort especially since it was only 5 minutes of kneeling and such…. HAHA! It was more like 90 minutes! At any rate, to see the twinkle in his eye, hear him chuckle about his “sitter” and watch him be a little more careful in his walk, made the day a little brighter.