Christmas season

This Christmas season has been rather busy as my mother's home has been shut for the last three weeks to visitors due to an outbreak of novo virus - visitors can go in but at their own risk. The other people who usually visit mum are not going in as they have children who they do not want to get the virus.  I have therefore been going in every day.

As George has his own toileting issues the last thing he needs is to catch that so I have been going on my own. The other residents are not having visitors so I appear to be the only one in and out. Mum had a small amount of vomitting initially but has been fine ever since.

With me not being there all the time and without his club etc George has taken himself down to Brighton and bought wine for himself. Such a shame as he was doing so well.

His sister died in England on the 12 December which has been a real shock for him. We wrote a letter to be read at the funeral and I made a PowerPoint display as well. The funeral is not expected to be until 7 Jan which seems a long time.

All of George's sons contacted him on Christmas day so he was really excited about that and told me (many times) what they said.

I just hope to get things back to normal soon.

Sunday

Most days I try to get George out. If I go out without him he has all sorts of stuff all over the place. He does not put any clothes away but leaves them in piles on the floor so I have to put them away. While we are both home he will either bring stuff such as photos out and go through them all and have piles everywhere or he will just sit on a chair and doze. He doesn't do any work and hasn't for a long time now. I am trying to get cooking done, gardening, change the bedding, doing cooking, housework etc while he watches. It can get rather frustrating at times especially with the mess he leaves.

Today when we went out he had on a  pyjama top with a jersey on top (it is a hot day). This afternoon I am very busy trying to get things done while he just sits there. I was making a recipe which required rum. I bought rum as a present a while ago but found George had opened it and got into it. I then hid it but when I went to find it guess what? No rum. In addition there are a lot of empty bottles around the garage which I need to clear out. At least he has nearly finished everything we had and I am making sure no more is coming in and he has cut back and does not drink wine as there is no more here.

Coffee

Took George out for coffee as he loves doing this. When we had finished he said he was taking his cup inside (we were sitting outside). The car was parked directly across the road.

I said I wanted to get something from a shop (by where the car was parked) and told him to wait by the car. I was in the shop for 2 mins and came out - no George, he had wandered off.

 I was in a panic but luckily found him.
Can't do that any more.
He does not recognise our car.

Sad news

George's sister has died in England. I had an email to let me know the news. I had gone away for the weekend so George had been in the home. I picked him and took him to a cafe to break the news quietly, not an easy task.

It was not expected and she is five years younger than George. He is pretty upset. They have been in regular contact over the years so it will be a big gap in his life as he loves contact with his family.

Waiting

Something that is quite frustrating is that when George wants something he asks for it and then stands right there until I do it. For example I was doing something tonight and he came and asked for me to put on a DVD for him (he can't do it). I just wanted to finish what I was doing first but he just stood and waited so I had to stop, get him organised and then back to what I was doing.

When he is ready for tea he gets out one fork, one knife and sits at the table ready for me to serve him.

Confusion

Every morning I hear:

Is it Christmas Eve yet?

When I reply that no Christmas Eve is not for another ... days he says:

Why have they changed it?

The other night he watched an old movie and wanted to know why they had changed the ending!!

Time confusion

My sister has been staying for a week to see mum and take her out. She went home which meant that I had to take her to the airport at an early hour for an early flight. George woke up after I got home and he was complaining of a sore stomach. I got him to the toilet and then he went back to bed. He got up an hour later and seemed OK. His carer arrived and he had a shower and got dressed. In the early afternoon he was nodding off so I suggested he go and have a nap on the bed which he did. When he woke up he thought it was the morning and for the next three hours kept saying things like:

Will I have a shower now
I will have my cornflakes now

I kept on explaining that it was now night time but there was no way he would believe me. In the end I went to bed and eventually he followed!!