….that Dad does better in his own space and with his daily routine. OR at the very least, in a space he knows. For example, he knows the place we stay at in Victoria very well but didn’t know the other two places (one in Parksville – although, we have stayed there before) and one in Sidney. He started really well and was happy, excited and participating in all conversations. But as the week wore on, he withdrew dramatically into himself and as hard as I tried to dig him out, he would not come back.
At one point during the trip, he was so confused and disoriented that we had to “talk him down”…a lot… That was rough.
So, we made the call to AHS on Monday to ask that they put him on the wait list for a long term care facility.
No call back from AHS yet….they’re supposed to get back to you within 24 hours….um…..no……we didn’t really expect it.
His doc called to say that Dad needs to cut back on potassium and drink more water. (we did blood work, etc with him before we left for the island) So as much as Dad loves bananas, oranges, dried apricots, raisins, spinach and broccoli (all things he eats daily), I need to figure out how to cut back on that without over reacting here. These foods have more than just potassium in them so I don’t want to remove them completely. Dad has always believed he is drinking huge amounts of water but we all know that belief and reality are 2 very different things when dealing with dementia.
Okay so, if we put Dad into a home, we have to drive there to not only see him but to do exactly what we do here….like cut his toe nails, soak his feet, do his laundry, supply him with word puzzle books, make sure he’s wearing clean underwear, get him to drink enough water, taking him for various medical tests/procedures, getting eyes checked, dental visits, etc etc. The place my Mom was in did none of these things for her so I’m assuming nothing has changed in the past 6 years. (yeah, I’m jaded) But using our time/gas to do all these things seems counter productive to me. Maybe I can just get more hours from self directed home care instead. hmmm…. That would certainly help to keep him here longer.
No call from AHS yet….isn’t this fun? I suppose I try a follow-up email now.
