CAREGIVER NOTE:

He’s gone outside for 2 days in a row now. He took a bit of a walk yesterday, rather than just sit in a chair on the deck. He was pretty shaky by the time he got back onto the deck and wanted to come directly back into the house and veg in the cooler air of the house for a while.

He slept a little better last night — and was only up once. He’s been getting up a little earlier for the day and that’s been kind of nice. He was open to watching some Finding Your Roots – and watched 3 episodes last night. He seems to like that and we’re now finding ourselves at the end of the series, having watched all 10 seasons. It’s interesting he does remember lots of bits and pieces from some of the episodes — and he’s hoping we’ll find a link or possible window to find more information about his great grandfather. I think we’re hoping for that as well. So far, all the information we’ve been able to gather through the years still leaves us at a dead end in the 1860’s in Kentucky. We’re not able to go back any further on one of his lines.

Yesterday’s positives:
Genuine interest in what everyone was doing for the day
Enjoyed a few minutes outside in the sunshine
He thinks the dog likes veggies (she does not and definitely turns up a nose at all things green!) She would much prefer to have any meat he has on his plate and he generally takes a couple of bites before giving her the rest of his portion …. unless it happens to be ribs – which he won’t share with the dog.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

I was awakened to seeing the mattress being lifted and watching him take the safety rails off the bed last night. He couldn’t tell me why he was taking them off — but while doing so, he did break the railing locks on one side. I’ve ordered a new set of rails and they’ll be here tomorrow. OI! We had to remake the bed 2 times since I would just get things put back together and he would take them off again without telling me why he was doing it. He’s resting again now, but I worry about his safety getting up and staying on the bed at night. Another phase to work through.

On the plus side, earlier in the day he’d been so proud of himself…. he’s discovered he’d put his shoe on the wrong foot and was able to correct that without getting too distressed over it — and even prouder that he didn’t need to ask for help! (sometimes, it is the little things that need to be remembered).

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Patience…. he wanted to get a job yesterday.

He remained in pretty good spirits for the most part — even when he figured out it was probably best to leave it to the younger set for the time being. I’m sure this will be revisited again in a few days. Every “job” suggested here has been turned down with a flat “No.”

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Shifting back to the regular routine sans company. He will miss them and the difference they made in the daily stuff. Fingers crossed for a fairly smooth transition.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

He had a fun phone call with a long time friend yesterday and they reminisced for nearly 30 minutes without too much repetition on Dad’s part. That was the first highlight of his day yesterday.

He’s very excited about the impending visit of a son and grandson for a week. He’s been up and down a couple of times and is stirring a couple of hours earlier than his norm. I hope it’s a great day all around – but ready for a few bumps if rush hour traffic impedes their arrival.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Broadening his scope of TV shows has helped somewhat with his sleeping patterns. He enjoys watching some of the newer shows we’ve exposed him to. He’s not into movies – he gets lost in the plot, an hour long show will hold his interest for the most part.

I’ve noticed recently that when he’s talking on the phone to someone and after he hangs up, he continues talking as if he’s still in a conversation with them, but we’ve become that person. It’s been interesting to listen and contribute to the conversation a little bit but in a different voice. He seems to appreciate the fact that we can help him transition from the call to the next moment without any judgement.

He’s turning 92 in a few days. He’s kind of excited about it – – different feelings from previous ones just a month or two ago.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
He was a bit “off” yesterday during the morning hours – he was definitely doing things out of his normal routine start of the day. Once he realized what he was doing, he got back on his normal track and things went pretty good. He spent a good portion of his day talking about things in the past and sharing old stories — no new twists.

He’s had two good nights of sleep — we’ll see how tonight and tomorrow go in our test of the new meds. The dizziness has lessened considerably and he felt much more confident in getting around yesterday; not having to stop here and there to gain his balance, or needing extra help to get from point A to point B — though using the walker is still not on his “need to use” list at the moment — he has an arm to lean on in his treks from place to place. There was a little anxiety in the afternoon — not sure if it was because of the cloud cover or if he was starting to cycle into the worry zone about something. We did sit and he shared some thoughts going through his head, but nothing that led me to believe he would go to the “melt down zone” before the end of the day.