Sunday, May 18, 2014

Keeping one's head above water

George does the strangest things as well as things that can be very irritating.

One thing he does is goes through papers and books. He pulls them all out and scatters them all over the place. I got him a box to keep a lot in in the lounge which helps but he then goes and pulls down all the ones that are stored in the top of the wardrobe and has piles of them everywhere. I spend hours tidying those up.

Last night I was getting the evening meal and had put knife and fork on the table. He sat at the table and picked up the knife and fork and began to eat an imaginary meal. After doing this for some time he turned and said to me " I don't seem to be getting anywhere with this"...

Also last night he got his onesie off and his pad. He put on track pants! I woke up and realised this so had to get his track pants off and his pad on. He wouldn't wake and it took ages as he was a dead weight and it was not easy. I am going to get the safety pins used on babies so maybe that will stop him (I hope so).

Today he went out for coffee (twice) so he was happy about that - once was a free one from McDonalds which is great.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Birthday

Well today was my birthday and I was lucky enough to get two presents. I am very grateful for both of them thank you Mr Key. One is a Gold card which gives the holder some advantages, one being that you can have free coffee at McDonald's. The other is a weekly super amount which is given to all New Zealanders when they reach retirement age. This is so nice as it has not been easy since I retired with many unforeseen expenses cropping up.

I took George to McDonald's today and we used the Gold card twice!! Nice coffee too.

George tends to be like mum and restless in bed. One of the caregivers suggested this to me: Yoghurt with a weetbix broken up into it. He was saying that it is also great for children but must be just before going to bed and it has a calming influence. Worth a try.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Looking forward

In about 10 days I have a friend arriving from Australia. It will be so nice to have her here for a few days. It is so nice to have some to talk to who I can just chat to about ordinary things which is not always possible with George and he certainly doesn't understand any problems which arise (and there have been many over the last 3 and a half years). Her mother was a close friend of my mother and also had Alzheimer's. Her family are bringing their parents ashes back to their roots in Darfield as although they lived away from here for many years their hearts remained New Zealanders. It is nice as she is well away of strange behaviours of those with Alzheimer's so it won't worry her.

George enjoyed himself talking about rugby to the friend we see on Fridays and it was even better as the friend's brother also came around so George was in his element talking about All Black tours of days gone by.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Busy week

After the good day on Monday George has been quite needy for the rest of the week. On Tuesday he had a 'dizzy spell' so I had to leave him home instead of going to Harakeke as I had another appointment. We had  a doctor's appointment later in the day so we are testing his blood to see if anything is wrong. 

Last night he managed to take the onesie off (two pins tonight!) resulting in him putting on and wetting 4 more pairs of trousers. Luckily the bed wasn't wet however my first task this morning was the washing. He got up at about 4 this morning. This is something that can be pretty hard to deal with.

Today I have taken him to go to see a friend for the morning. He loves to socialise...

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Assessment

A person came from PMH to assess George. Wouldn't you know it he was having a good day. He was charming and articulate. When she asked to see him walking he was walking really well!! Couldn't believe it. She thinks he is nearly at the dementia unit stage but at present she thinks he will be catered for at an ordinary rest home. As she said he is interesting and chatty socially and will be a favourite with staff for these reasons. He is going to Beckenham Courts soon so they will let us know when they can no longer cope.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Watching

I have found that I need to watch George fairly closely. He sometimes goes to the toilet and sometimes that is OK. Each time he goes he rips off toilet paper and folds and puts it down somewhere in the lounge. Also if his continence pants get wet he takes them off and puts them on a chair somewhere and then just puts his track pants back on, I need to quickly get a new pair on.

The onesie continues to be great at night. Unfortunately he was able to undo the zip and get them off again in the middle of the night. For a couple of nights I was able to counteract this by putting a jersey over top but he worked that one out.

Light bulb thought: I now put a safety pin in the top of the zip so he can't pull it down!! Seems to be working so keep those fingers crossed.