CAREGIVER NOTE:
No calls overnight or so far this morning. He had a pretty good day from what I understand, though he’s still sleeping quite a bit during the afternoons (I’m pretty sure the meds are the cause for that as he’s still needing some support for anxiety and his wants to get out of bed without help). I plan on spending a couple of hours with him today…

We did get his upcoming dr appointment on the transportation calendar yesterday so that has been checked off. They will transport him to the appointment and we’ll meet him there to have his sutures removed and have his 2 week post-op check. So far, he’s left the remaining sutures and butterflied bandages in place — Fingers crossed he leaves them alone until next week.

CAREGIVER NOTEs:
No calls from the hospital overnight, so maybe they were able to get him soothed enough to sleep last night. He wasn’t having it earlier in the evening and did try to get out of bed on his own. It took both of the male CNA’s on shift and the nurse to get him back into bed before he hurt himself or did any damage to the “fix.” I came home from the hospital exhausted and shaky. I decided not to go back and sleep there. I needed to do some self care as we’ll start the some post hospital preps today so we’ll have things in line when he’s released from the hospital. I meet with the social worker today. We met the therapists yesterday, and they’ll be back today. He’s got a lot of work to do before he’ll be ready to be released from the hospital — I’m really hoping we won’t have to bring an Oxygen tank home with us, but the respiratory therapist isn’t all that hopeful.

POSITIVES:
The nerve block carried him through the day
He was happy to know that he could eat anything he wanted – no dietary restrictions
He loved getting phone calls and having visitors

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Suspicions confirmed. A fractured rib is causing the pain. He finally relented and okayed a trip to Urgent Care yesterday. I’m glad and it seemed to relieve his anxiety some hearing the dr’s findings after the x-rays were read. The pain only occurs when he is moving around, so he didn’t want to walk or move much to cause more discomfort. His instructions from the dr were for him to keep moving, lots of deep breathing exercises and when he is resting to use the heat packs and take tylenol as directed. The one thing he wasn’t happy to hear was that the pain would last for an additional couple of weeks….

POSITIVES:
He showed lots of patience and kindness to medical personnel that were trying to help him while at the very busy Urgent Care.
Joking around — and throwing out a few zingers over the course of the day and into the evening.
Willing to try to change a couple of things in his routine for the day for a few weeks. (We’ll see how that really rolls out — but it’s good to see that he’s willing to be a little flexible right now.)

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Vivid dreams ✓✓
Unmake and remake bed ✓
Dress and undress ✓
It was another one of those nights. I’m really hoping that we’ll see a shift in the circle soon.

POSITIVES:
Sat on the deck enjoying some fresh air for about 30 minutes yesterday
Good conversation throughout most of the day- though I am seeing some faltering in finding words at times
In good spirits for most of the day — no sundowning to speak of, just wanting to go to bed early.

CAREGIVER NOTE:
Another night of wandering… he did make it to the front door but didn’t fiddle with the locks this go round. I’m really hoping we’ll see him go back to the sleep all night cycle again soon. I know I definitely need some more sleep and he does as well.

POSITIVES:
Good appetite for most of his meals
Wanted to watch a western instead of news for a couple of hours (HOORAY!)
Remembered where he’d left his shoes the night before.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Lots of “what to do” yesterday and overnight. Nothing suggested seems to interest him and he has no idea of what he would like to do. We’ll try a couple of ideas today. Fingers crossed something will be of interest to him.

​Despite the challenges of the day, count your blessings.  There are many.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

He’s been a little gentler the last couple of days. Kinder with his words and trying to listen a little more as he tries to process what he’s been hearing. He has been worried about “losing his mind” a lot more and has been noticing that it is much more difficult for him to get things to “stick.” My heart hurts for him and his children — as we see him drifting further and further into the depths of dementia.

Positives:
Music – he’s really enjoying the easy listening channel I recently discovered. It really does calm him a bit
Clouds – he enjoys watching the clouds and didn’t mind feeling the first few drops of rain before moving back into the house
Antiques Roadshow — he sure is glad we don’t have any of that so called “junk” around here as he’s just not sure what he’d do with it if he had it. LOL

CAREGIVER NOTE:

Much better sleep cycle overnight. He enjoyed watching the news during the day and some pro football last evening before calling it a day. (He was even doing a little back seat quarterbacking during a couple of quarters.) He chose not to venture outside yesterday. He ate really light all day… not sure if that was because he was still having some gut issues from the night before or not. He couldn’t pinpoint his food choices for the day other than they just sounded good.

CAREGIVER NOTE:

He went to bed before dinner last night, but was up again in an hour fully dressed and ready for a “bite.” That bite wasn’t much, so we’ll see how famished he is this morning when he gets up in a little while. We did enjoy dinner out on the deck last evening — the air had cooled and the breeze lightened up while there was food on the table — but even after the food was cleared, we spent another 2 hours just visiting and catching up with a neighbor as the sun went down for the evening. I think he enjoyed the company, but it wasn’t long before he wanted to go inside and talk and then go to bed. He was up again a couple of additional times looking for the dog and asking some questions. He finally settled in about 30 minutes after that — it was a late night for him afterall.