CAREGIVER NOTE:

I don’t think a week would be complete without at least one clogged drain in his bathroom. Thankfully, yesterday’s clog was quick to clear and not as messy as the two previous clogs. He’s so worried about creating extra work for me or the problem being difficult to remedy. He apologized profusely and was worried, once again, that I would be upset with him. He apologized for not remembering what needed to be done to fix it — I explained that he did the right thing and in the correct steps – he told someone about the problem before it got really bad. I’m not sure that’s what he wanted to hear, but I’m grateful that he told me right away that there was a problem while it could be taken care of easily. 

Our new “suggested” afternoon routine worked well yesterday — hoping for the same results today. He was very happy that he didn’t have to change his clothing before or after dinner because they were soiled. He’s looking forward to some holiday shopping this weekend — picking out his gifts of some new shirts (with a little breathing room) and possibly a new coat as his is very well worn and is in bad shape in several places. 

CAREGIVER NOTE:

He managed to flood the bathroom yesterday. The toilet ran over after he tried to flush about 1/2 a roll of tp down at one time. I felt so bad for him. He had tried to clean it up and got a good bit of it done, but of course there was the aftermath to take care of and make sure it was really clean and safe for use again. I’m ever grateful for the 3 deep breaths and calm as we’ve been through this before, but not to the flowing of water out into the carpeted area. Bless his heart — he checked on me a couple of times while I was cleaning to make sure I wasn’t mad at him. Of course not, it was an accident and things happen… We had more important things to worry about — like what he wanted for lunch once the bathroom mess was cleaned up.

Last evening there were a couple of errands to run — I left hubby in charge… this is what I came home to:

Both of my favorite guys sacked out after a tough evening. 😉 It had been a long day for both of them.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

We got to take a quick walk around the cul de sac yesterday. He said he enjoyed being out in the fresh air, but wasn’t sure he would be able to make the walk in a day or so as he was pretty winded and tired by the time he got into the house again. I asked him to consider the option — and we’d look at how he was feeling the next day. Fingers crossed it won’t be too chilly for him to want to venture out. But we’ll see.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Short term memory was totally missing yesterday. He couldn’t remember having eaten an hour previously or how he managed to get dressed. He didn’t remember having called or spoken to a family member just a few minutes previous to asking to make the call again. It was a pretty tough day.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

YIPPEE! He took a stroll around the new deck and down the stairs. Walked across the yard, through the east gate and around to the ramp and up to the front door! He said he loved smelling the air — a little bit of wood smoke still lingered from early morning and seeing all the brilliant colors on the trees in the neighborhood. He felt safe on the deck now that the railing is up and all around. The stairs and rails are extra sturdy and there’s no “wiggling” when he holds on to go down. He was all smiles! But sadly they didn’t last long.

He asked several times yesterday to call his brothers — and before I could answer he said, “don’t tell me they’re dead.” How do you respond? He asked to see their obituaries, and thankfully, his wife had saved the newsprint copies in a binder and I was able to share that with him. I need to scan those and upload them into the cloud so I can pull them up when he asks again, because he will. He “remembers” seeing both his brothers working on an irrigation head gate and his Uncle Pert asking them to repair another gate for him — all this happening just a couple of days ago. These memories/hallucinations make things pretty hard for him to reconcile. He knows things aren’t right, but can’t put the pieces together. He had tears yesterday, again. Dementia/Alzheimer’s sucks!