CAREGIVER NOTE:

As you show patience with others, give yourself some grace too. This can be a difficult time for everyone in the household. Something old, become something brand new yesterday – difficulty in understanding how it worked and what would happen if he did this or that, though he was familiar with it not 10 minutes before. Celebrate the small victories as some days, they are the biggest ones experienced throughout the day. 2024 will bring lots of challenges as the dementia grows — stay the course. Reach out for help if needed and remember that you’re not alone in the journey.  

May the miracles you’ve experienced this year be considered among the blessings you count today.  

CAREGIVER NOTE:

He braved the cold and the crowds and went out for breakfast and later, a clothes shopping trip. He was pretty tuckered out by the time he got back, but he was happy and proud of the accomplishment — not so much about shopping and picking up a new coat and a few other things, but going to breakfast! He was all smiles about that adventure —

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Yesterday was a sad sort of day. He couldn’t tell me the reason for his sadness, but we knew. It was the anniversary of his wife’s death. By evening, he was doing much better and felt calm and peace as if he’d come to terms with the loss again — 8 years doesn’t make it any easier, that’s for sure.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

We had the “talk” last evening. He initiated it and was wondering if we had intentions of putting him into a nursing home if his memory issues got worse. We told him we were in for the long haul and he was here with us for the rest of his life. We talked about the living arrangements — his bedroom, the bathroom and time with family. He seemed very happy and relieved about that as he understood (for a little while, at least) that his former home has been sold and no longer belongs to him and he can’t go back there to live. We’ll see how today rolls out…. as it’s unlikely he will remember our visit last evening.

Image Credit: Inspiritivity

CAREGIVER NOTE:

He’s enjoyed having visitors this week. A son and grandson. While this was a “working” trip, they were still able to spend some time together and take care of some family business. Anxiety ran high one day while the son had to be away for most of the day… I’m not sure how he will handle things today as our guests have to fly out in a couple of hours and it’s likely they will miss seeing each other as it’s an early flight.

Memory issues continue to progress. Lots of repetition and reframing throughout the day and evening. He did get a new watch that now tells him the time with the push of a button — He does manage to push the wrong button on occasion and set an alarm or two or reset the time, but we’ve been able to get it back to rights and he’s happy again.

We found a bevy of photos buried in some files on his computer. Oh the memories they hold! We’ve transferred them to an external hard drive for safe keeping — he spent a couple of hours looking through the pictures and was very happy with those memories. We are blessed to have found those and I’m pretty sure he’ll enjoy looking through them again in a day or so.