Visitor

Yesterday we had a visitor and George was fine for most of the visit. Just before the person left (at about 1.30 pm) George left the room. He came back with his dressing gown on. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was 'getting ready to go to a function'. The 'function' is tonight!!

Update

George is still packing regularly and still asking if he can do something - he thinks he might be going to Auckland tomorrow. However the rugby world cup is keeping him occupied, he watches the games and the replays. He is able to tell you all the moves made during the game so there is nothing wrong with his memory regarding the rugby.

I am finding it increasingly important to remind him to shower - I am sure he would just go for a week without one if I didn't get on to him.

He does try to help but finds it very difficult. He 'makes' the bed each day. I make it properly before I go to bed as he just pulls the cover over everything...

Mum is going down hill. She can get aggressive with staff members who try to tell her what to do. Not physically aggressive but verbally. She was very upset with a staff member when I went in over the weekend and it took me some considerable time to calm her down. Older people don't like being told what to do. There are better ways to get them to co operate e.g. would you like to ... for example.

Clothes

Put on his track pants yesterday - inside out. I told him that he had them on inside out and he said it didn't matter. Today he came out and said 'I've got them on the right way now' - they were still inside out but round the other way!!

Dishes

Poor George is trying so hard to help. The other day I had to go out briefly. When I got home I found him taking dishes out of the dishwasher and starting to stack them. I explained that we needed to put the dishes back in the dishwasher as they had not been washed. We did this - there were only a few dishes in there.

I went to do some work outside and the next thing George has the dishwasher going to wash the few dishes that were in there.

going again...

This morning George got up and took his case out to the lounge. When I asked him why he said to get packed for Auckland. I explained again that he is not going for over a month and not to worry about packing yet.

mum

Mum has not been good over the last few weeks with a chest infection. The antibiotics that the doctor has been giving her have also made her more confused than usual.

She has been feeling very upset and doesn't want to be in the home. She wants to die and frequently says she is going to commit suicide. She wants me to be in there with her all the time and has said that when I 'dumped' her in the home I should have stayed there with her and we should both be there.

This makes it very difficult for everyone however you can certainly understand how these people feel. It must be very difficult trying to made sense of their world.

Deaths this year

This year we have had a difficult year due to the earthquakes and during winter, snow storms. When the big earthquake struck many rest homes were badly hit and the residents had to be moved out, many right out of the city. There are still not enough beds for the elderly here and so more money is being channeled into trying to keep them in their own homes.

In this mornings paper was an article discussing some research that has been done about the residents who were moved out of the rest homes. Of those people 1 in 5 have died this year.

A fifth of rest-home residents evacuated from Christchurch after the February earthquake have died, health board figures show.

By last week, 104 people out of 520 residents moved because of damage to their Christchurch rest homes had died.

Of those, 54 had been moved to homes outside Christchurch, including some in the lower North Island. Fifty were moved within the region.

I wonder if the number of deaths in rest homes this year is greater than usual.

Day to day living

Most of the time George is OK at the present time. He tends to go through papers and make lists a lot - that keeps him occupied for ages.

He enjoys watching the World Cup rugby.

I need to keep asking him about having a shower otherwise he would not have one for days.

On Friday night we had friends around for the evening - it was lovely to see them. George would take some food from the plate and then put it back down. I would then put the food on his plate.

Doctor visit

Took George to the doctor today. As his usual doctor is away he saw the other doctor in the surgery. This doctor suggested that he be assessed at the hospital. This is a big weight off my mind as it now means that they will do tests to see just what is going on. We talked about how confused he is becoming. The doctor asked him what happened a year ago. He talked about a war and also about the 1981 All Black tour but not about the earthquakes which happened a year ago yesterday!!

I contacted our lawyer regarding EPAs - luckily we do have these both for property and also care and well being. It is important to have both. We had them so that each one of us could care for the other if the need arose. With the circumstances changing I now need to make new ones for one of the children to be able to take over for me if the need arises.

Doctor

Took George to the doctor. I saw the doctor recently to let him know about George's problems.

The doctor took his blood pressure and it is very high. George is to go for a blood test tomorrow. The doctor explained that George's confusion could be caused by his high blood pressure as well as the stresses we have all been under with the earthquakes. I am not convinced but we will see.