Sometimes not remembering what happened yesterday or even five minutes ago has its advantages. Yesterday doesn’t drag you down or rob your attention from what’s happening now, and every moment is new and fresh, leaving you to enjoy life today. That’s one way to look at it.
Throughout the travails and memory loss, my dad maintains his sense of humor. That passed down trait of “perceiving the humor in life” serves us both well. Dad’s memory slippage continuously rides a teeter-totter between lucid moments when he remembers his telephone number and moments of complete disorientation when he can’t find a glass in the kitchen. The same cupboard housing glasses for twenty-five years eludes him. You never know on which side of the teeter-totter he will sit. Laugh with us and shed some tears as I tell you some stories about my dad.
Hey PG!
I’m so glad you decided to do this. I love that you are able to see some humor in what must be a very difficult situation.
WC
Thanks! Me too!
PG
Hey was directed over by WC…I look forward to reading your blogs. Have a relative that, while not suffering from Alzheimers, she does have dementia/senility brought about by old age (94yrs old). Please give me a reason to smile when I am ready to tear my hair out! Thanks for sharing!
Hey Billie, Wow! Your relative is 94–that’s getting up there. My grandma lived to be 94 and my dad is 90 now. It just doesn’t get better, the older they get. I hope to give you some good laughs. Better to smile than
losing hair over it.
PG
I am abit lost…is your Dad currently in the nursing/rehab home? (we too, had to tell my grandmother she was going in for ‘rehab’)…Unfortunately when my Grandfather fell and broke his hip, he never made it back home. He died there six months later. Hence the nervousness of telling Grandmother where she was going, much less that it would (hopefully) be long-term. A 94yr old living alone …..not a good situation.
My dad went from breaking his hip to rehabilitate in a nursing
home for the 20 day Medicare paid stay. After that, I was at his house with him for about 2 weeks and then talked him into trying assisted living for a month. The “try it for a month” was what worked for him. The gal that ran the assisted living residence said this approach usually worked quite well. After a month, most residents were adjusted and happy to stay. Assisted living facilities for the most part aren’t quite as intitutional as nursing homes and are much cheaper. As I continue my blog, you’ll learn more of the details of this journey with my dad. The old folks staying in assisted living are on the whole more capable and need less assistance. My dad was able to stay in assisted living for about 2 years until this past year. His mental decline became increasingly worse, he underwent a gall bladder removal operation and then several months later broke his other hip. His needs went beyond the capability of the assisted living.
By this time however, there was no resisting to being in the nursing home. He in fact preferred it. I hope this helps to better explain the situation.
Thx for the explanation babe! I fully appreciate the ‘assisted living’ senerio as opposed to the nursing home. Great Uncle lived a VERY happy & fulfilling life for nearly 10 yrs in AL…was our hopes to have gotten Grandmother there BEFORE she progressed beyond it…but alas there were family members who opposed it. Rather her stay in her own home until situation was horribly sad, depressing and dangerous to not only her but everyone around her too. Shame, I firmly believe in AL schemes….
Hmm…you know my dad got to the point where he couldn’t stay in the first assisted living facility, because they weren’t staffed enough to care for him–particularly his incontinence and wandering. We found another AL facility for dementia and Alzheimers residents. They had their own room but spent most of the time in a common area. Incontinence wasn’t a problem and they were equipped to deal with wanderng. As long as the resident wasn’t combative and could stand, he/she could be there. I don’t know how far past the point your grandmother has gone, but perhaps there’s an AL designed to assist the needs of a more advanced decline.
KEEP WRITING!!! Anxiously awaiting more!! LOL….You’ve got me hooked now!