CAREGIVER NOTE:

COVID – not sure I need to say more, but it has been quite the thing for the last 2 weeks. Everyone is finally on the mend and no one had to be hospitalized, thankfully. We were able to get Paxlovid for two of the 3 family members that tested positive. It helped immensely and both were COVID free before the end of the course of treatment. Lingering coughs seem to be the only outlier at the moment. Hopefully, those will go away within the next couple of weeks.

The weather has been Springlike — still using the furnace at night, but having to turn on the AC during the afternoon warmth of the day. The trees are greening up and the grass is looking pretty lush at the moment. The garden is planted with all his favorites: corn, cabbage, tomatoes and potatoes. And we have flowers in several pots around the yard. We are hoping to get the last of the flowers planted and maybe have some dahlias by mid to late summer. He is looking forward to some time watching the gardens grow over the course of the next couple of months.

plant a little positivity/kindness along your path today.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
He was pretty impressed with the eclipse yesterday. We watched it on TV as the totality moved from south to north in the eastern part of the country. We only had a partial eclipse here, but he didn’t want to venture outside — he was pretty amazed at how things went dark so quickly and then returned to light.

He’s been up for a second night in a row — but not as long or late as the night before. There is something bugging him, but he hasn’t been able to verbalize it or put a finger on it to let us know yet. He has been sundowning more regularly – little more anxious about things as things progress in the evenings even though the days are getting longer. He’s stirring now, so we’ll see how soon he’s up for the day.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Another night of confusion and wandering. He didn’t try to get out of the house, but was very confused as to where he was and how he got here. Talking about where he was and answering his questions truthfully seemed to help and he was finally able to put some of the pieces together and go back to bed. It’s doubtful the answers will stick for long, but maybe he’ll feel okay about things today when he is up for the day.

His new watch arrived — he’s now on his third talking watch. This brand and style is not waterproof, but it is the kind of watch he wants and he can read the digital numbers and hear the the time and date. Now if we could just get him to quit messing with the alarm button…..

CAREGIVER NOTE:

He hasn’t slept all night for the last couple of evenings, however, he has been able to handle whatever he’s been dreaming about without wandering around the house or getting upset about things. His eyesight is bothering him — but sadly there’s not much that can be done to correct it at this point. That makes him sad and contributes to his longing to do things he feels he can’t do any more. We’ve tried some adaptive tools, but he doesn’t like them or want to use them.

On the brighter side of things he’s been throwing out one line zingers the past few days with gusto! Lots of smiles, chuckles and even a few belly laughs. He was sharing stories about his brother again last night and while a few elements of the story had changed, most of the details were as sharp as ever.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

A small change in meds after yesterday’s visit with the dr. She’s researching a couple of ideas we talked about during the video chat.

He had a vivid dream again last night that he was moving… he was hoping the movers wouldn’t move his stuff. He couldn’t recall our names or how we fit into the picture, but he did like the house he was in at the moment. Hoping for a smooth day today…

Serving others brings joy.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Back in the wakeful night cycle. No agitation last evening — just hungry and a bit disoriented because it was so dark outside. We just let things play out — he was dressed and had his coat on like he was ready to go somewhere. He said he just liked the feel of it and wanted to wear it.

Video chat with his dr on Monday about meds. Hoping we can get things straightened out as he’s refusing to take two of the meds and there’s a problem with a third that isn’t available for a refill. We’ll see how things roll out next week.

Flip the switch from – to +.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Vivid dreams pushed what we’d hoped would be a quiet day into another realm. He was really upset about something he thought had happened the day before, but hadn’t nor with the individual in his dream. It’s becoming more difficult to distract him and move past the dreams. He got very anxious and upset. I thought the problem had been resolved, but it wasn’t so. It took another 60+ minutes to get things calmed down a bit. Once he’d calmed we asked if he would like to listen to music and asked what he would like to listen to. He said Classical and after another hour of just listening to the music, he was ready to go to bed. I thanked him for choosing the music and setting such a beautiful tone for the end of the day. He was still smiling when he arrived at his bedroom door.