Friday, July 26, 2013

Confusion

Lost another jar of coffee by George filling it with water.

He often becomes confused with things. Tonight, as I am tidying up he was getting his clothes out ready to have a shower with his caregiver - he thought that it was morning!! He has no idea of days of the week or what is on each day. I have to tell him many times througout the day and I cannot tell him things in advance or he will consistently get ready each day until the event happens.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Socialisation

George loves having people around to socialise with which is why he enjoys the Harakeke club. Last night an old colleague from his newspaper popped in unexpectedly which was lovely. This man now lives on the Gold Coast and was checking on his property here in Christchurch. He and George had a long conversation going over old times which George loved. It was really lovely for George to see him.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Rest Home

I often feel as though I am running a rest home. George likes me to take him out as much as possible - to cafes etc. I also spend a lot of time cleaning after him, especially the marks on the carpet. When we are at home he sits (with a hat on - he wears a hat and gloves all the time) on the sofa and watches DVDs while I do the housework etc.

Luckily I got the lawns done this week but it has been bitterly cold for lawns and gardens.

When he is sitting watching DVDs or looking through books he waits for me to feed him - breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and then finally tea. Unfortunately he is inclined to make a mess.

Every time he gets a drink that is a new glass - I find glasses all over the place.

Today is one of the days I go to visit Mum. I don't want to take George with me as it is hard enough to deal with one of them. Today when I came home he had been attempting to make some toast - it had burnt black!!

When George goes to Memory Group an old friend of mum's attends the same group so I take her home and stop to take her to places she needs to go on the way. She tells me that her god-daughter lives close and also takes her. I am well aware that there will be no one to help me with any of these things and I will have to go into a home at a much earlier stage than either mum or George and even then there will be few people to come and visit me.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Caregivers

My God I don't know what I would do without him. The person who comes to help George dress on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays is a fund of knowledge on so many things relating to people like George.

I told him this morning about the soiling problems over the weekend and he told me about this carpet steam cleaner which is for small areas or for upholstery. He has lent it to me and it is fantastic, I am absolutely amazed. It is called a Bissell.

Guess what I am going to buy????

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Toilet issues

George now wears adult diapers at night and a pad during the day. Most of the time this works for the most part although I usually need to wash the toilet floor each morning and clean the toilet frequently.

On Friday night he went to the toilet after I had gone to bed (and was asleep). He didn't get there in time and so there was poo on the toilet floor which he then tried to clean up. He smeared it all over the floor and the carpet in the hall. This is extremely difficult to clean up and it is everywhere. I put him in a shower and of course the shower was also covered with poo and took some time to clean up.

I know that he is embarrassed by this and tries to clean it up but it makes it a thousand times worse. I have now told him that he is not to try to clean it up. Last night was fine.

I have ordered a steam mop for carpets and hope this will help me with the cleaning.

I can only cross my fingers that I can sort this out.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Night time

There appear to be times when George gets up during the night and I don't wake. This morning I found that his shoes were inside his slippers so he was wearing the two at once. When he woke this morning that is what he puts on.

On Saturday, when I got home from visiting Mum, I found George in the garage waiting for me. He had been to Brighton and done some shopping. He thought that he had left his shopping somewhere. I asked if it was in the bus stop (thinking of the bus stop in Brighton). He kept talking about the bus stop but didn't really know. I got him into the car and started driving towards Brighton. A little bit down the road he said 'That's where it will be'. He was pointing to the bus shelter GOING to Brighton. I said that he would have been there when he was going to Brighton but he insisted on getting out and looking, nothing there. Got home and there in the pantry was his shopping bag!!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

dressing

George got up and put trousers on over his pyjama pants (he often does this). And then he put his undies over top of them!!

At night I get him into his pyjamas before I go to bed. He usually puts on trousers, a shirt, a jersey and a jacket on over the top before coming to bed.

Today he went to Harakeke club which he really enjoys.