Services

We had a physio here yesterday to look at the home environment to see if she could ensure safety and independence for George. She was quite impressed with what is here in terms of rails etc. She did suggest a walking frame to George but he was horrified and really he is nowhere near that point. She is sending him out a walking stick. She also had him stand up in various poses. She is sending out sometime who is going to show George a series of exercises to do to keep himself mobile. Guess who will have to ensure that he does the exercises daily?

Coffee time

Took mum down to Brighton to the cafe for coffee and a pavlova (with extra cream). George caught a bus and met us there. I have discussed George going on the bus with the doctor who thinks it is a great idea to encourage George to be as independent as possible for as long as possible.

At home George asked which rubbish bins needed to go out. I told him we needed to take the two yellow bins out. He went and started putting a whole lot of stuff into a green bin (for garden rubbish and food scraps) so I had to go and take it all out and sort it into the right bins. In the meantime he didn't take any bins out - I think he had forgotten what he was going to do so we went and he took one down - returning inside to reward himself with a drink, I took the other ones down...

Another doctor visit

Over the weekend I went to see mum. I took the cat in to see her as she had been telling me that the cat had died. She gets very concerned over the cat. However she had a pat on her knee and then lost interest. She was very placid and docile making me think that she had been given a pill but no it was just how she was at that time. You never really know what you are going to find until you get there.

Today George had Mark around to help him with showering and dressing which was good as we were going to the doctor for a flu shot and a B12 shot. When George dresses on his own he often puts his pyjamas back on and then other clothes on top - all sorts of odd combinations. I also took him to the local shopping centre to get a few things and we ran into a friend so went for a coffee - he loves doing this as he always gets himself a toasted egg and bacon sandwich while we are there.

Infections

The home rang last night to let me know that they are treating mum for a urine infection. I had suspected that she had one as she has been very confused. This is a problem for these people and it does lead to a lot of confusion.

Took George out with me to the Alzheimer's society this morning as I have said that I will take others in the car when I am taking him to the memory clinic etc. As soon as we got home he poured himself a drink. I am finding bottles all over the place. Although he knows it does not help his condition he is still drinking a lot.

I guess it is hard if you are not here to understand what is going with people with this disease. When you are talking to them you can often not tell that there is anything wrong. That perception would only last a short time if people were actually with them. It is not easy for those living in other places to face the reality of what is happening.

Wake up call

This morning I heard a lot of noise by my side of the bed (I had been sound asleep and woke up to the noise). George had brought me in a cup of coffee which was a lovely idea only trouble was it was 4 a.m.! I rolled over and looked at the clock. I explained to George what the time was and said that the paper would not be there yet - he already knew as he had been out several times to get it.

Dental plate finished

After several trips to get a new dental plate it was finally completed and paid for - very expensive. Now the challenge will be to see that George cleans and wears it...

George got dressed this morning and was wearing his pyjamas ready to go out. I explained to him that he needed to have a shower and put on other clothes to go out. He did that and then suddenly started to do something else. I had to explain to him again that we were going to get his plate and he needed to put on shoes not slippers. Got that done and I told him to go out to the car while I grabbed some letters to post. Off George went...

I got out to the garage to find George still standing there waiting for me - there was a plastic bag on the passenger's seat.

He now has his plate and is feeling good about that, so here's hoping.

Going out

This morning George and I went to some neighbours for morning tea. We went out to the car. If there is anything on the passenger's seat George will stand there until I remove it for him to sit down. I had a piece of paper on the seat so I removed that and we got into the car. I backed out. I need to go to the toilet says George. OK, I tell him, I will just go down to our house to pick some flowers to take with us. I opened the garage door so he could go back inside. When I got back I asked him if he had been to the toilet but he hadn't as the door was locked. In front of us was the garage door open but he had gone to go in the front door. Got him in to the toilet and then we left.

We had a nice time with the neighbours who are in a similar situation as the husband also has Alzheimer's. However when I told her about George she was telling me that her husband wears a bag. George is not that far down the track yet but I guess it will come.

It is great though to have made this connection as it gives the two of them some social interaction.

As soon as we got home George poured himself another wine. If I don't watch he will pour one early in the morning. The doctor suggested that he limit himself to two a day. George has got around this one by using a large tumbler. As the doctor said to me there is not a lot I can do about it but we can but try to encourage him to drink less.

George has gone for an afternoon sleep which does help with the alcohol consumption...

Mum's birthday

It is interesting that when I went in to see mum at the weekend she was extremely confused. She had been hitting out at staff and continually walking around. We sat quietly and had some food and drink I had taken in. The drink was raspberry which she usually loves but she really wasn't sure what it was. She also told me that her cat had died (it hasn't). All in all just really confused. We think it is one of two things

• urine infection
• excitement from the birthday and all the visitors etc

I will see how she is this week.

George is very slow at the moment and seems to feel the cold. He never goes outside without a hat and gloves on - even on a very hot day. He also likes to wear thermal underwear. Mum often complains of cold too so it seems to be something that some of them get. 

Dressing

Today George dressed himself. He took off his pyjamas and then put the top back on with a T shirt over the top and some long trousers. At about 1.30 he took off the T shirt and pants and put his dressing gown on. An hour later he put some other clothes on...

I put out some clean sheets first thing this morning (in the bedroom) ready to change the sheets on the bed when George finished dressing. I found only one sheet when I went to make the bed. I thought that I must be developing short term memory loss (thought that I must have only taken one out) and went to the linen cupboard to get the second sheet only to find it wasn't there.  I then had to search for the second one. Found it in one of George's drawers - the one for his trousers!! I also found a pair of my undies!! Got to watch that boy...

Toilet rolls

Don't ask me why but for some reason George likes to have out three or four toilet rolls at a time. There is one on the wall for people to use but he also has several others that he uses. He keeps these on top of the toilet cistern and uses about three quarters of each roll before turning his attention to another roll!!

We have now been told to get any valuables out of our house as it will be coming down some time and when they decide to do it you get no notice. Unfortunately it is a huge job and although I have been gradually doing things there is just so much. George has been a hoarder all his life. We have old garages where we can put the things we want to keep but I need to get a lot of old stuff out to the dump first. George tries to help by getting things outside over by our house and leaving them there. I then have to put them away again as it is always stuff we need to keep and if I don't get them back quickly they will be ruined being left out to the elements.