Smiling and Laughing

From Natural Solutions Magazine

Even though we are a Hospice household now, it is not ALL downhill. There ARE things to laugh at and things that bring a smile. I decided to record some this week.

Smiles. I have been so encouraged by the prayers and contacts from others. The comments on the last blog post here are just a small fraction of prayers and concerns from others including Facebook comments. We all are learning about the progress of this disease and every dementia patient has a different course. When you have seen one Alzheimer's patient, you have seen ONE Alzheimer's patient I have heard in Alzheimer's Association workshops. Certainly DH and our friend Jake are different.

A funny. Hubby is social and easily adapted to people coming into the house that are new to him. So pleased. I was on an errand on Wednesday, and when I came home a hospice aide was skillfully giving him a bed bath. Now hubby has a quick wit. Here he is naked with another woman.

Hubby: This is my new girlfriend.

Me (his wife chuckling): Does your wife know about her? 

Hubby: No, I don't think I will tell her. 

The aide was aghast that he said that, but I assured her it was part of his humor that I love and that he wasn't flirting with her and I was not upset he said that. Later he forgot all about this funny incident when I told others.

Wednesday continued to be interesting as I adjusted to suggestions from the nurse. I had to buy a twin bed for me to be put by my husband's hospital bed. Not worried about his walking as he was watching TV in his wheel chair, I went on a second errand to pay for that twin bed I decided upon. Wrong! I should have worried.

When I got home I found Jake, an Alzheimer's patient himself and dear buddy of my husband, sitting watching TV when I entered the family room through the garage. Hubby was not in his wheel chair.  He forgot he doesn't walk well. Ahead of me down the hall was hubby on the floor in the master bedroom. Do not put one Alzheimer's patient in charge of another one without someone else being there!  I found two strong neighbors (men who are relatives of Kenny who is out of town) to lift up hubby.

Do you have people in your life who do not text now and you so wish they would? Probably they know something the rest of us don't know because they have a simpler life. When Sally returned to pick up her husband, I teased her about her lack of texting skills. We always go round and round about this issue. I would dearly love for her to author here as well. However, her granddaughter is scheduled to review a teen novel that features a grandfather with Alzheimer's.

Me: I so want to be able to text you, Sally. 

Sally (repeating what she had said other days): I know, I know, I need to learn to text. 

Stay tuned, folks, there might be a whole hilarious blog post on our texting each other about our husbands--neither one would ever get into texting.

Wednesday proved that no longer can hubby be alone. I do not know that he would call someone if he fell. Jake, on the other hand still uses a cell phone and Sally is glad because he can be the wandering sort. She can call him. AD patients keep teaching us about their disease.

With Jake picked up by Sally and hubby not injured from his fall, I settled in to fix our dinner. Hubby had to poop and so I wheeled him to the master bath which has more grab bars than the other bathroom. Dinner would have to be warmed up later and he would stay in the bathroom a long time.

Got a call from our pastor. He and his wife were coming over. Cool! Soon I was talking with them in our family room about the stress of the past few days. Hubby was still on the master bath toilet. The pastor's wife was sitting on the part of a couch that looks down that hall to the master bedroom with an open door.

She saw more than our
dog, I'm afraid! 

Suddenly there was a streaker! Hubby streaked to the bed within eyesight of my pastor's wife!  I haven't discussed this with her, but she reads this blog and might clarify if she did in fact see a streaker! Horrors!

Can you imagine your pastor's wife 

seeing your half-naked hubby
 down the hall streaking!

And that dinner! I fed it to him when he was in bed after company left. I am starting to realize I need to catch him at the best times for his nutrition.

I am glad that he is walking more, but he forgets he has fallen in recent days and really should not get up from the wheel chair. It has become evident that someone needs to be with him to be his memory and to help him not fall. He needs a sitter if I am not there. My working days are over unless I get a sitter. Kenny cannot do this all the time.

Teen Alzheimer's sitter. Late Thursday afternoon I commandeered two teens in the neighborhood that know us (I have substituted for them also) and fed them and hubby ice cream when I went out on an errand. Sure enough hubby got up to walk to the bedroom! The reliable teens were by his side. In the bedroom he forgot why he was there and they brought him back to the family room.

Apparently that chiropractic visit on May 7th before Hospice was starting to work now--hubby is walking. What Dr. Robyn has done for hubby dramatically helped him last year as I recorded HERE.   Her strategy has been to stimulate the nervous system and the muscles and organs to function. So just maybe, when Kenny gets back in town, we may be able to take hubby to church and back to see Dr. Robyn who has helped his functionality since last fall. Note that because of his level of activity and Alzheimer's, the decision was made last July to treat the arthritic bone problems with pain relievers and to give him physical therapy at home. Surgery for a torn ligament is not always recommended and it wasn't for sure that he had a serious torn ligament according to that MRI. But the knee is arthritic and he does take pain medicine for it.  See HERE. Also, see this USA TODAY STUDY. Alzheimer's can indeed impact the walk of our loved ones.

I get to stay home more. I love our home, and it will be interesting to see how the LORD is providing for our finances with my not working. I love that hubby is not in a nursing home now and I would hope he doesn't have to go to one because of the help of Hospice. More on that later.

Putting a smile on the faces of others. I rap for others. I say I'm almost 70 and would you like to hear a rap? Hospice staff love it--our main nurse looked up my rapping channel on YouTube. Young clerks and bag boys who serve me at a grocery store love it; if they ask can I carry out the groceries for you I say only if I can rap for you. Those teen babysitters love my raps. It's kind of a diversion for me. I am also starting a twice-a-month Bible study for several women--something I wouldn't be able to do if I continued to work so much. And, I do hope I put a smile on your face when you read this.

from Dr. Isaac Eliaz

A merry heart makes 

a cheerful countenance,

But by sorrow of the heart 

the spirit is broken. 

Proverbs 15: 13