Shingles

Shingles is not pleasant at the best of times but for someone with Alzheimer's it is not good. It causes more confusion and of course can be quite painful. It is difficult to know exactly how they are feeling as they are not too sure themselves. George no longer seems to be getting the very high temperatures which he was getting. That was a real problem as he was shivering as he felt freezing cold. We have had a cooling fan going to keep his room cool. He is taking painkillers regularly. His mobility is not good at all and he is not too keen on showering or getting dressed. One day, when he was particularly bad l got him up out of his chair (a mission which took about twenty minutes) and onto the bed. He flopped down and nearly fell off. Using my body I helped him wriggle in to the middle. He promptly fell asleep, very high temperature at the time.

You need to keep a very close eye at these times.

A gentle day

We are having the most wonderful weather, very mild even though we have just passed the shortest day of the year. The ski fields haven't been able to open, lack of snow. I am not moaning.

I have been enjoying sunrises and sunsets up at the old house. I have missed these so much. I enjoy watching them and thinking of my loved ones.

George's name tags arrived on Monday (I couldn't find the other ones - packed away) so I have been getting stuff named for George. As with Mum I take in body wash for him. People in homes seem to go through it very quickly. I seem to need to get a new bottle every week and I get very large bottles.

Same as with Mum I am taking over bottles of drink so he gets plenty of fluid. Mum loved raspberry, lemonade, ginger ale, lemon and padrona, and tonic. George has the same tastes. George and Mum got on really well so it was nice for both of them. It is so nice for in laws to be as close as George was with my parents.

George was pretty lucid today which was great. We had a great talk about some of his friends and the things they did. He is currently on a course of antibiotics as he had a urinary infection, this causes people with Alzheimer's to become very confused.

I am gradually getting some things sorted and made a trip to the dump today, every little helps.

Infections

When someone with Alzheimer's has an infection their confusion increases. Since Sunday this has been really noticeable with George.  I have noticed that before he has the antibiotics each day he will be really confused but soon after taking his medication he is really good. With George it is easy to see when he has an infection due to the catheter whereas with mum the confusion would become more noticeable and then the infection would be diagnosed. When the person is incontinent this becomes difficult to manage and it is really important to make sure that they are regularly changed and that everything is clean. Unfortunately in homes it is not always possible for everyone to be showered every day and so often they are only given a wash.