Decisions, decisions, decisions

I have been patiently waiting for alterations and repairs to be done to the property we live in. We have been waiting for over five years. During this time George's Alzheimers has progressed a lot as can be expected.

Last year I realised that it means that George and I, along with all property, have to leave the property for at least six months. George has to go into a rest home due to his condition and his incontinence. We will be paying big time for this.

I have been very worried about how this will affect George's condition. I arranged so that when it happens George's routine will continue as much as possible.  This has been done with the expectation that I would be bringing him home.

However I now think that this is unrealistic.

I have recently been told that his disease has progressed to a point where he will no longer be able to attend his club.

George is going in to respite care so I can do some packing, it is impossible with him around!


For the last two weeks his regular caregiver has been on leave so he has been having a lot of relievers. While some are good others are not. As a consequence it has been a difficult two weeks for me and George has been extremely confused. It is in the lap of the God's as to whether George will be able to come home after the six months. Increasingly it is looking less and less likely.

Three times lucky

One of those days!

This morning the caregiver found George could not follow instructions as he does not always know what you are talking about, for example if he is told to wash his arm he may try to wash his feet or something similar.

Whenever he goes to the toilet I need to go and check on him. He will leave his pull-ups any old where! Sometimes I have had to search to find them. This happens when he wets them. He also wets his pants and takes them off too. He will then get clean ones out and put those on without pull-ups so I quickly have to get his pants off and pull-ups on first. If it is near tea time I put on old pyjama pants to save one pair of long pants. The amount of washing that gets done is unreal!

Today I changed him three times after the caregiver finished at 10 this morning.

Hat

George wears a hat all the time. He puts a hat on to move around the house, he puts a hat on to go out, he puts a hat on to go outside. Now he puts a hat on (and sleeps with it on) to go to bed!!

Those with Alzheimer's often have behaviours which they repeat over and over for no apparent reason.

Something both Mum and George have in common: Mum went through many packets of tissues, twisting them around in her hands, George brings large pieces of toilet paper which he twists and discards - I find it everywhere. Mum no longer does this but it does seem to relieve anxiety in these people.

I find it best to just let them do these things and go round behind and pick it up. This saves arguments or frustration.