Busy

Things have been rather busy lately. I went to Auckland for a weekend to see family so George went to Beckenham Courts. They are being remodelled and so they put him in a serviced apartment which was lovely and he really liked that.

He has just started going to Harakeke club twice a week. He really enjoys the club but has only been once on the second day when there are other people. He wasn't so sure that he liked that day. He went today and had a really good day. Tonight he described what he had for lunch - which he said was nice. "Peas and orange things"
"Carrots"
"Yes, and a thing like this" He made a circle with his hands. It was some sort of meat but not sure what. I do a heck of a lot of guessing as he knows what he wants to say but can't find the words.

His eldest son, who he hasn't heard from for ages, rang on Sunday night and he talked about the phone call most of the day on Monday. I think with busy lives people forget how much those little things mean, like staying in touch.

Confusion

Lost another jar of coffee by George filling it with water.

He often becomes confused with things. Tonight, as I am tidying up he was getting his clothes out ready to have a shower with his caregiver - he thought that it was morning!! He has no idea of days of the week or what is on each day. I have to tell him many times througout the day and I cannot tell him things in advance or he will consistently get ready each day until the event happens.

Socialisation

George loves having people around to socialise with which is why he enjoys the Harakeke club. Last night an old colleague from his newspaper popped in unexpectedly which was lovely. This man now lives on the Gold Coast and was checking on his property here in Christchurch. He and George had a long conversation going over old times which George loved. It was really lovely for George to see him.

Rest Home

I often feel as though I am running a rest home. George likes me to take him out as much as possible - to cafes etc. I also spend a lot of time cleaning after him, especially the marks on the carpet. When we are at home he sits (with a hat on - he wears a hat and gloves all the time) on the sofa and watches DVDs while I do the housework etc.

Luckily I got the lawns done this week but it has been bitterly cold for lawns and gardens.

When he is sitting watching DVDs or looking through books he waits for me to feed him - breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and then finally tea. Unfortunately he is inclined to make a mess.

Every time he gets a drink that is a new glass - I find glasses all over the place.

Today is one of the days I go to visit Mum. I don't want to take George with me as it is hard enough to deal with one of them. Today when I came home he had been attempting to make some toast - it had burnt black!!

When George goes to Memory Group an old friend of mum's attends the same group so I take her home and stop to take her to places she needs to go on the way. She tells me that her god-daughter lives close and also takes her. I am well aware that there will be no one to help me with any of these things and I will have to go into a home at a much earlier stage than either mum or George and even then there will be few people to come and visit me.

Caregivers

My God I don't know what I would do without him. The person who comes to help George dress on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays is a fund of knowledge on so many things relating to people like George.

I told him this morning about the soiling problems over the weekend and he told me about this carpet steam cleaner which is for small areas or for upholstery. He has lent it to me and it is fantastic, I am absolutely amazed. It is called a Bissell.

Guess what I am going to buy????

Toilet issues

George now wears adult diapers at night and a pad during the day. Most of the time this works for the most part although I usually need to wash the toilet floor each morning and clean the toilet frequently.

On Friday night he went to the toilet after I had gone to bed (and was asleep). He didn't get there in time and so there was poo on the toilet floor which he then tried to clean up. He smeared it all over the floor and the carpet in the hall. This is extremely difficult to clean up and it is everywhere. I put him in a shower and of course the shower was also covered with poo and took some time to clean up.

I know that he is embarrassed by this and tries to clean it up but it makes it a thousand times worse. I have now told him that he is not to try to clean it up. Last night was fine.

I have ordered a steam mop for carpets and hope this will help me with the cleaning.

I can only cross my fingers that I can sort this out.

Night time

There appear to be times when George gets up during the night and I don't wake. This morning I found that his shoes were inside his slippers so he was wearing the two at once. When he woke this morning that is what he puts on.

On Saturday, when I got home from visiting Mum, I found George in the garage waiting for me. He had been to Brighton and done some shopping. He thought that he had left his shopping somewhere. I asked if it was in the bus stop (thinking of the bus stop in Brighton). He kept talking about the bus stop but didn't really know. I got him into the car and started driving towards Brighton. A little bit down the road he said 'That's where it will be'. He was pointing to the bus shelter GOING to Brighton. I said that he would have been there when he was going to Brighton but he insisted on getting out and looking, nothing there. Got home and there in the pantry was his shopping bag!!

dressing

George got up and put trousers on over his pyjama pants (he often does this). And then he put his undies over top of them!!

At night I get him into his pyjamas before I go to bed. He usually puts on trousers, a shirt, a jersey and a jacket on over the top before coming to bed.

Today he went to Harakeke club which he really enjoys.

Morning

In the mornings I give George his pills, his coffee and put his cornflakes into a bowl so he can add milk when he is ready.

This morning he woke before me. He

1. poured himself four cups of coffee
2. put corn chips in a bowl with milk and ate them

I need to organise things for him.

I am trying to get him to start putting things away. He brings out all these cuttings, magazines etc and spends a lot of time cutting out and pasting in - I brings out a huge amount and litters them all around. It is very difficult to confine him to one area and they are littered all over the place.

Grazing

I find that both mum and George like to graze on food all day. George makes  a huge mess and I also have to get him all his meals and morning and afternoon tea. Apart from that he loves to change clothes and go through old cuttings and papers. It is very hard to keep things tidy. The mess he makes on the carpet is incredible. I try to get him to eat in the dining room but ...

Today (so far) he has changed his sox 4 times...

On top of that yesterday the caregive put George's pad from the night before in the washing machine which then got washed as I foolishly did not check what he had done - another hours of cleaning out the machine.