CAREGIVER NOTE:
I’m hoping today will be a good day, though he’s not too much into Halloween. He’s been going to OT and PT and speech. He wants to come home — at least that’s what he says. So I’ll take that as a measure of truth and we’ll look forward to that regardless of how well he’s doing or whether he’s walking or not at the end of 30 days. I’m hoping he’s made enough progress to maybe want to complete it through the 100 days, but I’m not holding my breath at the moment.

We do have his bedroom and bathroom ready again. Plans now are to rearrange the living room to make sure there’s plenty of room for the walker or chair to maneuver. We’ll start on that this evening when I get home from the rehab.

POSITIVES:
No phone calls with negative reports from the rehab
He was dressed, resting and calm when a grandson visited
We seem to be making some progress at multiple fronts with hopes of that continuing.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
It’s supposed to be “moving day.” Yesterday wasn’t all that successful all around, though I’m pretty sure they’ll send him on. I’m hoping that will be a smooth transition whenever it happens. I didn’t hear back from the intake clinician at the rehab facility yesterday, but hope to hear from her early this morning.
He’s taking tylenol for pain. No additives to the tylenol.

POSITIVES:
He caught up on his sleep yesterday
No restraints needed
He left telemetry and the O2 lines alone.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
He can’t remember falling or even going to Urgent care for the x-rays or talking to the dr. He couldn’t understand why things were hurting yesterday — and he didn’t want to get up, get out of the chair, walk or anything. He seemed more confused than his normal. He was willing to hydrate and did take in sufficient fluids over the course of the day. However, changing his underwear as necessary was another thing altogether. Hoping today will be a better day in the realm.

POSITIVES:
No mishaps of flooding or plugging receptacles yesterday
No anger regarding his not remembering recent events
Enjoyed listening to some current happenings in the family

CAREGIVER NOTES:
Much better day overall. He took 2 walks outside. We will likely need to resume some PT for his hip as he was having some hip pain — though some of that could be the result of his fall from the day before. We’ll see how things go today during our afternoon “stroll.”

Still no answers as to what he wants to do — suggestions are still falling flat. Puzzles, card games, computer games, painting larger items, looking through memory books and family history stuff (I have all of the family binders).

POSITIVES:
Good spirits all day
Enjoyed a visit with his youngest son for about an hour during the evening
Slept all night

Choose good friends and keep your family close.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
After consulting with his dr (again) we’ve decided to make another change to his nighttime meds. Fingers crossed this will help as he hasn’t had a full night’s uninterrupted sleep in quite a few nights now. The cycle hasn’t reverted back to a full night’s sleep. Fingers crossed the change will help and in a hurry. I’m grateful she called last night to discuss the meds issue — especially since it was her day off and she’d worked late the evening before. We’re REALLY going to miss her as she’s retiring at the end of the year… we’ll meet her replacement next month when he goes in for his appointment.

Yesterday he got pretty upset with himself after spilling his drink. Accidents happen and we never make a big deal over them. It’s generally, just an oops and let’s get that cleaned up and get back to the regular stuff. It took him nearly 30 minutes to get over the spill and causing what he called “trouble.” It really wasn’t a big deal and I got to thinking afterwards that maybe that was something he “was missing.” Maybe previously someone has made a big deal of a spill while he was in rehab…. and he wanted the “fireworks” that had come with it (lots of juicy connection and recognition – although not of the good kind). That just doesn’t happen here. It’s done and over with and the mess cleaned up and we move on to the next thing.

POSITIVES:
Zingers and there were a couple of good ones
conversations with family members about different current topics
Asked for help when it was needed

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Dr.’s virtual visit on the calendar today – regarding medications. It’s been 6 months since our last discussion and it’s time for a possible change in one of his meds as his dementia continues to deepen and other things pop up.

I do remember his first days with us and the huge differences between him and Mom just a couple of years ago. They were very challenging for all of us.

POSTIVES:
He shared some play time with the dog and was still mindful of the dog’s surgical site.
Lots of smiles and laughter during the day
Less anxiety than normal when he shared some details about a past incident with family

CAREGIVER NOTE:
We spent nearly an hour outside yesterday. It was so nice and he loved the watching the birds flying to and from the feeders, listening to the sounds in the air and watching the clouds move across the sky and behind the mountain to the east.

POSITIVES:
Laughter and smiles
Compassion for his dog
Expressions of thanks for the little things

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Back in time was the order of the day. A little messy since he felt he really needed to talk to his Uncle and explain why he couldn’t help at the farm and drive one of the teams and he wanted to talk to other members of his family – they’re all long gone. I felt so bad having to tell him that I didn’t have phone numbers for any of them. He realized how “alone” he was a little later and he shed a few tears. That has to be so hard! He asked again how old he was and asked why he was still here….

Positives of the day:
He popped off a few zingers
He didn’t stay in the “rabbit hole” of sadness for very long
He even suggested looking for something good that was going on in the day.