me, my dad and dementia #68 – a letter to AHS
I wrote this when my mother was living in a care facility (she also had dementia but more acute than my father) just a few years ago in response to a silly survey they sent out. I’m scared nothing has changed in our system and that most of our politicians actually don’t really care which […]
me, my dad and dementia #67: sleep….
My husband and I had a hard but wonderful and long talk and now, I’m sleeping better! Typically, I’m wide awake from 3:00am to 5:00am. Chinese medicine believes these “awake” hours indicate a need for emotional release (grief/sadness). They’re not wrong. Turns out, just talking to someone really helped. Go figure. Dang. You’d think I […]
me, my dad and dementia #66: second-degree burns, etc etc etc…
Well I feel just horrible. Somehow I didn’t notice that first of all, my Dad’s kettle was quite literally coming apart and second of all, that he had burned himself with boiling water as a result. Plus no, he didn’t tell me either…. So, now we’re using bandaids and vit E and keeping an eye […]
me, my dad and dementia #65: those extreme tendencies…and toes…
On Friday morning, Dad announced that he would never go to another lecture again. Ever. On any topic. Yeah. I know why – because he can’t remember anything about them even on the drive home right after them. BUT, he really enjoys being at them in the moment and he (normally) looks forward to going.I […]
me, my dad and dementia #64: he’s so tired this week…
My Dad said again that the choirs are his life line. He has been waiting eagerly to get going to rehearsals. He’s had the music for a while but what he really loves is the actual rehearsal. Cool! He enjoyed Monday….but came away from it troubled by the fact that he didn’t remember much of […]
me, my dad and dementia #63: ideas for the foody in you
Apparently, you can eat a sandwich for breakfast and porridge for lunch. And really, why not? Also, you can put dried cranberry raisins on piece of bread with some butter and call it lunch. And, peanut butter with jalapeno jelly is now a sandwich that you may never have heard of but my Dad seems […]
me, my dad and dementia #62 – much merry to all
Perhaps for me, the most important thing I continue to learn, is that I am not alone and neither is my Dad. None of us are. You are not alone. We are on this earth with other people for a reason. (my daughter grew up hearing me say this a lot) To help, to listen, […]
me, my dad and dementia #61: he can still hit those high notes!
indeed….he can. Once he warmed up with the group of singers on Friday and we sang each song once, his voice was fine. And more remarkably, his voice was fine for the second song. Why is this remarkable? When you sit at a service of any kind but especially one that causes you some pretty […]
me, my dad and dementia #60: a cold weather hack…
If you’re cold and you’re not sure where your extra blankets are or exactly what they look like…..you can grab a tablecloth to add to the foot of your bed and keep your feet toasty warm!Yes, that’s what my Dad did and yet we only noticed it about a week after he had put it […]
me, my dad and dementia #59 – mayonnaise in the porridge
Yes, you read that title correctly. This morning, my Dad ran out of milk for his porridge (which we supply in small quantities so it doesn’t go bad….which it had….so we took it away but forgot to replace) and so he decided in typical Eric-like fashion to add whatever he had in his fridge that […]