Monday, January 27, 2020

The lighter side

Alzheimer's and Dementia is no laughing matter and it is a terrible disease to live and die by.  However, we need to find some laughter when you can.  Fortunately for us (I think), daddy is a social butterfly which has turned out to be a great benefit for him at Pace of the Ozark where he goes during the day while I work. 
He has always been a ladies' man and that apparently has not changed.  He has Miss Frances who is the cutest little 84 year old lady you will meet.  She never wears her teeth and will tell him goodbye in Spanish most days.  LOL!  Daddy has no clue what she is saying every time so I tell him, every time.
There is Miss Opal who believes he needs to spread himself around the group more, because he is spending far too much time with Miss Emma (whose name he can never remember).  Miss Emma is definitely smitten with him.  She already been in trouble for holding his hand and he was willing to keep breaking the rule until I said that's not the right thing to do if they have a rule about it.  LOL!
Miss Emma had her son put her number in daddy's phone and put daddy' number in her phone so now on the weekend either she will call or he will call her or both. 
Funny part of that was this past weekend.  He called her Friday as soon as we got home to make sure she still wasn't upset about getting in trouble for hand holding.  Then he called her again on Saturday.  Sunday came around and she called him twice and he refused to answer the call.  I have no idea why, because we have said nothing about him talking to her or anyone else on the phone.  I guess he just wasn't in the mood. 
Here is a "typical" workday for us and our schedule...
I wake up around 5:15-5:30 am and get completely ready for work so that I can be in the kitchen/living room when he comes in.  He can get up between 6:00 to 7:00 ish (or before) and when I know he is close to coming out of his room I start his coffee and breakfast and get his medications ready and set it all up on the kitchen island at his spot he eats at when we aren't at the dining table.  While he is eating I'm cleaning up the kitchen if anything and logging into my work computer to start my day.  Once he has completed his breakfast I have him come sit down so I can do his eye drops.  I make sure his phone is with him and on because one of my sisters typically calls him around 7:30ish.  While he is watching the news I move the car to the big side so he can get in easier and get his bag and my stuff in the car.  He is usually talking to my sister while I get him to the car and turn out all the lights and then I put the seat belt on him and we are off to Pace.  Sometimes he refers to it as work and others he will say Pace.  Now the one sister at times will refer to it as Daddy Daycare and that does not make me happy.  I constantly correct him when he says that, because I don't want it stuck in his head that I am dropping him at a daycare.  Ugh.
Anyway, I walk him in and hand him his eye glasses and I put his sunglasses in is TN bag which they will then put in his locker.  I leave and head to work.  At 3:15 in the afternoon I leave the office and go to Pace to pick him up.  I have his "vitamins" in my lunchbox for him and water and sometimes a snack if we have a stop to make before coming home.  If we are coming straight to the house I give him his snack once we get in the house.  This will hold him over until dinner.  We turn on Ellen and watch until the local news comes on and he naps (although he swears he doesn't) off and on until Tebo gets home.  Once Tebo is home we do dinner and start daddy's shower and lay his clothes out for the next day and attempt to keep him up until at least 8:00 PM.  Some nights that works and other nights it does not, but he is usually ready to start heading to bed around 6:30 every night.  Yikes!
When we can make it until 8:00 I go in at 7:00 and turn on his mattress warmer and that way it is nice and toasty when he crawls into bed. 
We start that all over every morning Monday through Friday.  I have his stop/go light on each night and some mornings he abides by it and others he does not.  You just never know when it will work and when it won't and there is no rhyme or reason for his schedule when he goes to bed or wakes up.  He is all over the chart with that.  It truly is like having a toddler in the house again at times and other times it is like a "Seenager" LOL!
All in all I am thankful he is so social and that Pace is working out so well.  He loves working out each day and today he had me get his other blue shirt ready for tomorrow, because he got so many compliments on the blue shirt today since it pulls his blue eyes out.  He is out of control.  :D 
Got to take advantage any time you get a ray of sunshine when you can.  I choose this today.


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