Poor George

Poor George has been not too well with an upset stomach. Of course this means mess, mess, mess and changing... Just finished changing him again and putting another load of washing out soaking. He is on pills and I am watching his diet but not a lot else I can do. Lots of washing too.

I find that the more I find out about Alzheimer's the more I realize just how little we know about its progression. I find it fascinating how similar Mum's and George's Alzheimer's progressed especially when I am reading about, talking to others about it, researching about it for example, I find that each person differs.

Until Mum's sacral fracture and up until now both George and Mum relied on me and expected me to do things and have things organised for them, they then didn't worry so much about things and they also had each other to do things with as well as people coming to help at times when I was working. Things worked like this for a number of years and ended for Mum when she landed in hospital. She blamed me for that which was the beginning of her getting to the stage of not being able to stay in the home which was such a shame. That was when the anxieties started and she certainly could no longer be left alone for a minute. I can see this happening to George too in the future but it is not something you can plan around. No matter how much you know that going into a home is the only thing that can be done you always feel incredibly guilty about doing it. I don't think anyone who has not been in this situation can understand how bad and useless it makes you feel.

Both George and Mum always had beautiful manners and this appears to be something that they don't lose.I  wonder if those who are normally argumentative and aggressive just become more so when they have Alzheimer's, I suspect so. Actually manners is something that appears to be lacking nowadays, I notice that some people write emails without thought and these actually sound very rude to the recipient although I am not sure that is what is meant. Unfortunately the people writing don't read it nor do they actually understand how rude they can sound. As Mum and Dad always said good manners cost nothing, such a shame others don't have this philosophy.

Neither Mum nor George go wandering which is a help as this creates chaos for many families.

At the moment we are going through the 4 year anniversary of earthquakes that were so bad here. Things are still not that great here and it is going to take a long to get things back to 'normal'. I am still trying to deal with EQC, insurance companies and other things relating to this. Really this tragedy has changed many people's lives here. One thing it certainly taught many people here is how little money and things are worth, they are not the valuable things and that was bought home to all of us.