Shaving

George has been having some difficulty shaving; he doesn't see all the areas he is missing. His old razor packed up six months ago and was unable to be fixed. I bought him a new one, the equivalent of the old one. He keeps mucking things up so it won't go. This time I have been able to fix it and will have to take in to the shop for repair. I know that it is going to happen again. Yesterday George and I bought a disposable razor and shaving cream. He had never used one before so I taught him to use it. He did do a better job than with an electric one - I suspect it is because he was carefully looking in the mirror while he did it. We'll need to see how things go.

My sister has been wonderful and done a lot of housework while she has been here which has been marvellous as this chest infection I have had has left me breathless after small amounts of work. She has just been a godsend.

Busy time

I have been very busy taking George here and there - nothing exciting but just time consuming. My sister has been here looking after mum this week which has been a godsend as Mum has been unwell as have I.

Last night one of George's old work colleagues was retiring and he was asked to the farewell. When we got there people were giving speeches. They stopped to open the door for George. When he went in they all clapped - everyone was thrilled to see him. He had a wonderful social night.

night time coffee

Last night George got up sometime before 3.30 a.m. and got dressed. I found him in the lounge and told him it was the middle of the night and went back to bed. After a while he came back to bed and went back to sleep.

When I got up this morning I found he had left me a cup of coffee in the lounge. It was cold so I warmed it up in the micro wave. I took one sip!! I then found that George had put all the coffee from the jar (over 50g) into this one cup of coffee. There was no coffee left in the jar and the jar had been cleaned out. I think he had put the water in the jar and then poured it into the cup.

One foot at a time

George is managing pretty well at the moment. Today he went out and picked up the cabbage leaves that had fallen down and put them in the rubbish bin - he did this by himself without asking!! Sometimes he does things that surprise you.  When I got home from seeing mum yesterday George had taken a bus to Brighton and had got himself a few things at the shop while he was down there.

While I was at the home with mum yesterday she slumped down and had a turn (I think it was a mini stroke). She lost all colour in her skin, her eyes went blank, the right side of her mouth was slack. She kept going in and out of this state for about 10 minutes. She then went to the toilet and came right. The doctor went to the home and checked her out and said she was OK.

My sister arrived from Australia today and went off to see mum at about lunch time today. When she got there mum had fallen on the floor in her room and no one was there to help her. Unfortunately Mum does tend to wander off a bit and it is hard to keep track of her and everyone else as well but I do know that the staff do their best.

Memory clinic

We are off to memory clinic today. George loves going out. I have now got into the habit of  taking him for a coffee and toasted sandwich as part of the 'going out'. Yesterday I had to go to the hospital for a test so George came too (he wanted to). When I had finished guess where we went? The nearest cafe... - I have to check before we go out as to what clothes he has on. Yesterday he had on his pyjama top under a jersey, I decided that as others would probably not be aware I would not worry.

 I must admit that I find my life is taken up with taking George where he has to go, seeing mum, cleaning up after George, doing house work - sounds boring? It is and I also find it pretty stressful.

Something I have found is that those with Alzheimer's have little or no consideration for anyone else.  I guess it is because they are in their own little world. They do expect that everything will be done for them. I am not sure how those who live alone get on.

Don't sweat the little stuff

Last night George asked me if I wanted him to get us a cup of coffee each. I said that was a nice idea. He poured three cups...

This morning he put his cornflakes on a bread and butter plate and brought them into the lounge. I did suggest that we might be better to put them in a bowl with the milk which we did.

I try to keep him as independent as possible so have decided to try to say as little as possible when all these things happen and just go along behind cleaning up the mess.

Breakfast

This morning George was getting some coffee and cornflakes. He put the coffee in the cup and added the cornflakes into the cup...

Taking care of the carer

I keep being told that it is important to take care of the carer - easier said than done. I retired to look after mum and then she went into a home and straight away George was diagnosed. I knew nothing about Alzheimer's at the start of this journey (in 2010) and now I feel quite an authority on it... Most people caring for someone with Alzheimer's have other family members around to help share the load. Unfortunately I have two family members living here and both have Alzheimer's; all our other family members live in other places so I am it. This is why I started this blog was to let the other interested family members check in here to find out what is happening.

Something I worry about is my own mind. Although I couldn't work full time I do like to do things with my mind to keep busy. I am so grateful to those friends of mine who have found work for me. With one I did some relieving teaching work which I really enjoyed. I was working with young girls who had specific problems in their lives and were trying to move on. I found the interactions with these girls rather stimulating and hope that their lives go the way they want them to. Another friend has been finding me some data analysis to do for some research projects, this has been really interesting, particularly as it is about education and so it is something that I am interested in. The old job I left employs people to work on contract but unfortunately they have not offered me any work at this point. At the present moment in time I am able to work part time but as George progresses this will not be possible. To those people (friends and family) who have helped me to gain jobs or who have been there for coffee, chats etc a great thank you as that is so wonderful when you are in this sort of position.  It makes you feel as though someone else cares.  I must say though that you do find out who your friends are.

I meet friends for coffee regularly which is great and gives me some time out. At the moment the weather is freezing but as it improves I am going to look for some clubs or groups to join.

I also play a lot of Suduko and do the crossword puzzles in magazines and online - hopefully this will help the mind (fingers crossed).

Out for dinner

George loves going out so we have just been out for dinner. He had salmon which looked lovely. I buy GrabOne vouchers when they appear which makes going out very affordable. Tonight our meals would have cost $50 for the two mains but I paid $26 for the voucher - you could have two mains that cost up to $52.

George needed me to tell him what to wear - he had on pyjama top instead of a shirt but we changed that and off we went. He enjoyed himself.

The weather here at the moment is fine during the day but there is snow over a lot of the South Island so the wind here is bitter...

Keeping things on an even keel

I took George to a mid winter Christmas luncheon a couple of days ago. He had a lovely time talking to all of those around him. Today he is at the Harakeke group which he really enjoys. He is making friends with those who attend the group and also the memory group. All of this entails a lot of running around for me but it keeps him happy.

Unfortunately I am off to the doctor's as I am not well. This is difficult as George really is not aware of others and how they are, with this disease everything revolves around them...