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!

for being YOU!

Image credit: @modernhideout

CAREGIVER NOTE:

YIPPEE things: He can dress himself and take care of most of the hygiene stuff (with an occasional reminder). He can feed himself and make his bed and keep his room clean.

He doesn’t care about cooking things, but does like to have a selection of afternoon and evening snack foods available. His favorites being Oreo cookies, popcorn, bananas, ice cream or cherry pie or a milkshake/smoothie. We’re more than happy to oblige.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

There’s a pattern building…. he’s frustrated, but every suggested solution or suggested activity is thwarted with an “I can’t do that anymore” or “I’m too tired to try.” Not sure if he’s really to the point of not being able to do something or he doesn’t want to try and not be able to complete something successfully as he’s been able to do in the past. Hoping today’s reframe of some suggestions prove successful.