Outings With My Dementia-Impaired Husband

Tuesday we wert to a concert:

THE BRIGHT STARS SENIOR IDOL SHOW 

at

Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida. 

We had to go because my retired teacher friend  was performing. She was one of three performers to win the first round in our area and this was the next round. So exciting! Hubby and I set off two hours before the 6:30 concert was to begin.

I played classic oldies from my iPod on the way over--Side by Side, I Just called to Say I Love You, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, For Once in My Life, and You Are the Sunshine of My Life. I knew when we got to the concert, there would be plenty more songs that hubby and I could enjoy. 

Now hubby is adjusting (or not) to changes these days. His doctor says he has to use his walker. However, when we got to Ruth Eckerd Hall,  he wanted no part of the walker in the parking lot to get to the auditorium. I motioned for the security guard in a golf cart. But after walking by several parked cars,  he changed his mind and had me retrieve the walker. Meanwhile the golf cart appeared and hubby went off in that golf cart with the walker in the back to the concert entrance. I walked to meet him. 

It might have worked better if Sally and Jake had been able to come with us, but Sally got sick at the last moment. However, I really did want to see my friend perform. Hubby was being stubborn and wanted to go back home after our long drive before we were even seated. Someone I had met through this friend appeared and she did help hubby get to our seats in the auditorium. I have that wife nag factor, whereas someone else can get him to do things. At the intermission after six performances,  hubby wanted to go home, but I said no and he did sit down. He will not argue in public. 

My friend was the eleventh of twelve performers. She herself came out in a walker and said to the audience:

You got to do what you got to do. 

My friend performing at 
Ruth Eckerd Hall, April 22, 2014

She leaned on a baby grand piano and the Bright House staff took her walker away. Her first song was Neither One of Us and she nailed it. For her second song she was accompanied on that piano by her cousin and it was so moving. She sang I'm Still Holding On, a Christian song by Luther Barnes. She was holding on and I have to hold on also at this stage of Alzheimer's.  After the concert I sent her a text that she had nailed it. Hubby waited with his walker while I went to get our car and we went to a late dinner at Applebee's. Usually in bed at 8 pm I drank a lot of strong coffee at Applebee's and we got home way after midnight. I canceled my job substituting in a middle school for Wednesday and used that day to sleep in and work on other pressing matters. 

The next outing was today--a one-year-old birthday party for two dog siblings. One of those dogs belongs to our friends Sally and Jake, and of course we had to go! It would be our dog Ziggy's first social engagement ever. 

Now Kenny isn't available for the shave and shower at this time, so I had to perform this routine with my husband this morning.  I live such a crazy busy life and it came to the fact that I had to slow down to accomplish the shave and shower.

The wooden chair by the bed is so useful. Hubby uses that one arm for help getting up; and then he faces the chair and uses both arms while I pull his slacks up. That chair is also useful for pill taking. The morning pills went well because we used that routine established my Kenny. I have something cold for you to drink, I said as I sat in the chair and then we both took our Saturday morning pills.

The shave in the master bath went well. In the light later I realized what a poor job I had done with the shave. (Kenny does a better job with these routines.) While I shaved DH with a razor, I told him how in the middle of the night I had been able to catch that frog that lived in the master bath toilet--coming back up after it had been flushed down. Last night the frog was out of the toilet and by the shower, I reported, and I chased it to a corner and put the urinal upside down on it and he jumped in. Then I closed the urinal and brought that frog outside. Now I had to tell hubby this news one idea at a time so he understood what I said. We both laughed. 

It came time for the shower--a easy distance from the shave since the shave is always done while hubby sits on the toilet lid as a chair. That shower is right next to it.  But it was not to be!

Let me lay down for a couple of minutes before I take it was his request. He did so. I sat in our bedroom and opened mail and got on my Notebook computer and also played Words With Friends on my iPod--for an hour I did this.

Then he wanted to get dressed without taking the shower, but I had not put any clothes out for him as I always do these days. I had to really insist to get him into the shower. I even called Kenny who gave him a pep talk. It took maybe five minutes of arguing.

Finally with the shower done and hubby dressed in a cowboy shirt with a country belt on his jeans, we were able to get to the next social event--today's party for the sibling dogs who had both turned one. Our dog Ziggy was not his best--outside he peed on the jeans of the hostess, but all five dogs did get along, although Ziggy seemed shy.  Ziggy didn't understand doggy ice cream and doggy cake, but the other four dogs were happy to eat his on the paper plate on the cement. We people guests had hot dogs, chips, people ice cream and we shared a large cookie that said happy birthday to the dogs.

For the people guests

Jake gets busy filling up everyone's drinks. He always likes to be busy to feel normal I think. My hubby likes to feel normal by not using his walker and with conversation of events that probably didn't happen or are distorted at best. Jake will repeat himself more than my husband will, but they do say that every person with Alzheimer's is different. The friendship between Jake and my husband is so very fascinating to Sally and myself. 

I do wonder how long we will be able to enjoy outings. I think of my friend's words--you got to do what you got to do. I also think of the poem DO THE NEXT THING as a great motto these days. See this poem HERE.

UPDATES 

• Kenny's mother is having surgery in Orlando for possible cancer. Please pray for her. 
• I am in the process of replacing the items in my wallet--more on these adventures later.
• Plumbing issues are being addressed. Have to get the same plumber back to fix the water softener to help with the rust from our well water. Indoor problems are solved. 
• Pharis and his kids have worked in the yard and he has fixed the hole in the garage ceiling I made when my leg went through the roof last December. 
• Let me know if you wish to be in a Blogging Tour where I introduce you to three blogging friends and then they introduce me to three of their own blogging friends. 

What's Been Working Here, Folks

Next month we will have been married for 14 years. Dementia has been around since 2008. This cartoon from Pinterest board is us, although I don't have a cane and I color my hair to look younger and give it more body. Hubby doesn't get shaved every day also and he used to be a little taller than I am. He is frail now and I guess you would describe me as a spunkly old lady. So how is it working for us?

1. Help from others. We are so blessed that volunteer caregiver Kenny lives nearby and comes over at least once a day.  Pharis is our volunteer for yard and maintenance. Kenny will text me when there is a problem. He will change the TV channel for hubby, because at his stage of dementia, he doesn't use those remote controls. See HERE. Because I have Kenny, I can keep working to pay the bills which include a car payment now. March 24-29 I have 4 1/2 days of substitute teaching and Saturday for teaching a class for DUI offenders.

2. Routines. Kenny established routines for shaving and showering and continues to make valuable suggestions. When Kenny will be gone for three weeks, I will be the one to use these routines and I have taken careful note. I do seem to carry with me the wife nag factor, so it will be more difficult for me. Taking morning pills in the bedroom works for me because Kenny established that routine which I mainly carry out now. At this point I put a pill in hubby's mouth and instruct him to swallow it with water. If I don't get the morning pills for hubby accomplished and have to leave the house, I text or call Kenny who sees that hubby gets his morning pills.

3. Help from a chiropractor whom hubby sees every two weeks. Now hubby can walk fairly well, although he has that old person's hobble. Alzheimer's expert Teepa Snow even imitated how my husband walks.

4. Simple, affirmative dialogue. Have learned to get in front of hubby.  I often tell him I love him, and I do mean it. It seems that love takes enriching turns as the disease progresses. I know hubby would be there for me if the situation were reversed.

5. Simplifying life wherever and whenever possible. Perfectionism is absolutely gone in life as I approach my 70th year in June. Shaving my husband's whole head means we don't have to visit the barber now. Planning errands for the week rather than for the crisis moment. Have a car appointment on Monday--so won't teach that day.

6. Friends Sally and Jake. It is so pleasant to go to dinner with them as we did recently at Olive Garden, using a coupon. The husbands sit across from us and Sally and I can chat to the side. The guys turn up their humor when together. Jake is so wonderful helping hubby walk as he walks alongside of him just as Kenny does.

7. Soliciting prayer from others.

8. Realizing that this is exactly what the LORD in His providence has in mind for us and He will see us through. My husband is going downhill, and I thank God for every good day knowing that it is and will be getting worse.

Carol

How a Dementia Brain Is Working Now

• Hubby thinks he needs extra protection. I had a police officer talk with him and then he stopped  this obsession.
• He tells the waitress that the same couple sat there three days in a row; waitress didn't verify and of course it wasn't true. 
• He believes that he has been in his new doctor's office before, whereas I know he hasn't. 
• Recently he called me mommy and said he was sad because I was up early and wasn't going back to bed. That was only once and I do hope he meant that I "mother" our dog. We go to bed so early and I am an early riser now. Early morning I can write better than late at night. 
• He confused sisters and wives. He thought he had three sisters. He still knows I am his wife and that he has two adult children with his first wife. He feels related to relatives that call or that he sees often. 
• He has difficulty understanding why he hobbles when he walks. He tells someone it originally was a military injury, but I have never heard that before. 
• DH thinks a barber shaved his head, but his thin hair was always sticking out and I was the one to give him that bald look with a trimmer. 
• He is increasingly stubborn. The shave is easier, but not always his shower for me; when Kenny is sick as he has been lately, it is my turn to get the shave and shower done. Sunday morning Kenny surprised us and VERY SMOOTHLY took pills with my husband. This is their "pill pippin' buddies" routine where Kenny takes his pills at the same time. Then Kenny easily gets my husband into the master bath for a shave and shower. He has the touch. I appear to be the nag for my stubborn husband. 
• He forgets that we have a different car that we purchased last month. 
• He asks where we live and how we came to live in our home. 
• He can't keep track of relatives he doesn't see often. I have too many relatives, he says. Have I really been married three times? 
• How remote controls work and how to put in his false teeth are starting to be a concern for my husband. 

I adjust to what he says and does and do not argue with him. I am rejoicing that I have hubby walking and still at home. 

We changed health insurance in 2014 because I felt there are more benefits for my husband's dementia situation. Monday the new doctor asked hubby to take off his shoes so he could inspect his feet since hubby is a type-two diabetic. I was impressed. Previous doctors have not done that. I told the new doctor how, since anesthesia makes the Alzheimer's worse, we have avoided surgery  on my husband's knee and how the chiropractor has helped him. Even though admittedly husband is in a middle stage of dementia and losing memory and function after five years, the doctor felt that he should continue the Exelon patch and of course Namenda. 

Me: Did I put your patch on this morning?

Hubby: You must have because I am not leaking anywhere! 

The Rain

There is a beautiful song on Alzheimer's at http://hidingfromtherain.com and it is also on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07a0cUZS5ak.

Hubby was stubborn this morning. Kenny came for pill, shaving and showering and hubby would have none of it. However, as Kenny reminded me, it is raining outside. By midday, Kenny came back and the pills, shave and shower were accomplished. Kenny added a grocery bag with a hole at the bottom attached with a rubber band so that the shower water could warm up while hubby was sitting in the shower. Then when the water was a warm temperature, the bag was removed.

From a Pinterest board

We do know that Alzheimer's patients are afraid of water.  I am reminded that with the change of time and seasons, sundowning behaviors happen.

Sitting Down to Shower

"Sean," I told him in earnest on the phone, "we are senior citizens and both of us need to sit down in the shower. Hubby doesn't like me bossing him around, so when you come I just know that you can do wonders, because he doesn't want me bossing him around. I think he will listen to you."

Knight Sean (Occupational Therapist) drove up in our circular driveway to our door in his Hummer-looking large black four-door jeep. When Sean came in the door, Sean told hubby, "Mr. Johnson, I am here to have you take a shower." With one command at a time, Sean skillfully broke down the process and hubby took a sit-down shower! He raised the sturdy shower bench I couldn't raise and was using in the yard for weeding.  He remarked that the port-a-potty we have would also work in the shower.

Solution One. Sean told me to get grab bars installed for the shower. I once had bought them when the shower was retiled by homeowners insurance for a mold problem we had maybe six years ago before dementia entered our household, However, the construction crew did not install them and I had taken them back. I surmised that the grab bars were not part of the original construction and not needed in the repair. Bummer.

Twice as good a deal as six months ago

I have just paid off our interest-free six month Home Depot credit card balance and now I could take longer for the interest free loan.  So I went online and chatted with Tiffany to see if I could get grab bars installed.

Tiffany: Welcome to the Home Depot! My name is Tiffany and I am a Bath Product Specialist. How may I assist you today?

Carol: I need a grab bar installed in our shower.

Tiffany: Hello, Carol.

Tiffany: In regards to installation/remodeling, please contact our At-Home Services at 1-888-480-9500, press "1", and then enter the three-digit code "267." You will be asked to put in your zip code and then will be connected with a representative who may better assist you with your installation/remodeling questions and concerns.

Carol: Thanks.

When I called, I found out that they sell grab bars, but do not install them.

. . . But, Home Depot doesn't do grab bars!

So I decided to still try to obey the knight with the four-door black jeep and see about getting grab bars installed from Lowes. Lowes also does not install grab bars, but they did have something that might work--Safe-er-Grip, Balance Assist for Shower or Tub. The Lowes clerk knew what I was talking about, as his own mother had fallen and had to have surgery for a broken hip and with the anesthesia her dementia had gone downhill. If hubby can avoid falling, he can avoid the possibility of anesthesia for surgery and the accompanying decline of dementia following anesthesia. If I can avoid falling as I have done twice recently, I can continue to take care of my hubby at home. Physical therapist Susann talked me through the installation of the two Balance Asists and the best use of them--for balance, not for pulling oneself up. One fell down that first night, however.

Two large bricks covered by a rug
and Safe-er-Grip on toilet

Solution Two. I put two 8 inch by 8 inch by 16 inch bricks on top of each other between the shower and the toilet with a rug on top of them. Hubby has a counter on his right and the bricks on the left to get off the toilet. Those bricks now hold his soap and shampoo for a sit-down shower. But guess what! He moves the soap dish to where it was at the back of the shower and stands to take his shower. You know what they say—you can’t teach old dogs new tricks.

Just as Physical Therapist Susann left, Occupational Therapist Sean came. The timing corresponded with another event.  Sally and I were having lunch with another friend. Jake came over to have his lunch with my husband and Susann left and Sean was there with Sally and my Alzheimer's husbands.

The two balance assists in the shower

Sean liked the two brick idea between the toilet and shower. Sean asked if they would be okay when he left and I told him the two Alzheimer’s buddys would be fine. The two men love being together and are so funny together. When hubby sat and waited for me at Best Buy recently, he said to me that it felt strange not to have Jake by his side. These men have a unique bond and fantasy life about things they have done together. When Sally and I came home from our lunch date, the hubbies were indeed happy and had planned the four of us would go to dinner and we did that. We women can’t do all the planning!

So it has been up to me to persuade hubby with our new sit-down shower arrangement. Getting him to shave is easier because he can feel his beard. He thinks he showered yesterday, when he hasn't. Alzheimer's patients need a routine and we just have to manage somehow so he can remain in our home without falling and with strengthened muscles.

Solution Three. Now hubby had injured his knee taking socks off to put in the hamper. This is how the last hospital trip happened. I got him new socks that are easier to take off. Hubby is not using this walker now, but I put the hamper between the legs of that walker so he can carefully balance himself as he takes off his socks. I notice he does hold those handles on the walker when he uses the laundry hamper.


Laundry basket in walker



Sitting down in the shower is not an embedded solution yet, as hubby  takes a stand-up shower in his sit-down shower. Calling Knight Sean! Need another lesson in sit-down showers! And hey, Home Depot and Lowes, with our aging population we need you to install those grab bars.

Routines

I recycle the Lipton Diet Green Tea bottles. I am using half Ocean Spray diet cranberry juice and half tea. Cranberry juice helps prevent UTIs. My husband loves this drink and I tell him that along with regular showers (two minimum per week) and cranberry juice helps.

Before he got over this UTI infection, I thought that both shaving and showering would be a problem. I bought a $4 estate sale shower chair shown at the right. I put it in the shower, but hubby wanted nothing to do with something that makes him feel old and he really has bounced back and gotten his strength back.

In fact, I can't tell that this UTI infection made him go into a further stage of Alzheimer's. He is the same fun self and I love spending time with him. He likes to go on errands with me. He lives in the now like I should. Buying that shower chair was premature.

What is not premature, is working on good routines. Even though there is a check list on his clipboard, he doesn't always abide by it. I read we caregivers need to reinforce good routines early on and we will be thankful we did later on. I am continuiing to enforce shaving every other day and regular showers. The routine of taking pills is not easy. He doesn't like to take them. Thankfully I have neighbor Kenny to get him to take his pills when I leave the house in the morning. Sunday night I went to bed, before I saw him take his pills, and I found them in a napkin Monday morning.

I have been so impressed with how Davina is taking care of her mother-in-law. I asked her about showering and she gave me these pictures of the shower put into the mother-in-law's house with a seat and grab bars.
.

In addition to grab bars, they have the portable shower head.

Caring.com here and Carole Larkin here on the Alzheimer's Reading Room offer tips on bathing and showering our loved ones with Alzheimer's. So far hubby is able to do all of this for himself. He doesn't want anything that looks like this product either.

So for the time being, shaving and showering is not the problem I thought it would be while DH was recovering from the UTI and he seems like his old self, still fiesty about taking pills, but seemingly in the same state of normal as before his hospitalizations and infection. He just asked me, when are we going to bed? I told him when he took his pills, and he took his pills!, although earlier in the evening he had complained about those pills.

Thank you, LORD! Help me to navigate

this caregiving with insight.

Some Answers



www.thirdageservices.com

Carole Larkin of ThirdAge Services (www.thirdageservices.com) to the rescue! Carole has been reading my blog, wrote on it recently and realized the complexities of the questions I was asking here. She is a social media friend I met on the Alzheimer's Reading Room some time back. I "liked" her site on Facebook and had a chance to actually chat with her on Facebook yesterday just when I needed it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Me: I put questions on Plant City Lady and Friends last post and I think that I need to change from Preferred Care at the end of the year.

Carole Larkin: I'm reading your blogspot now.

Me: My husband's primary care physician is not very good with dementia, I think. I am writing my seminary counseling dissertation on caregiving and he doesn't seem to realize as much as I am learning.

Carole Larkin:  You are right. The majority of primary care physicians are useless with dementia. That's why I keep harping on going to a geriatrician, neurologist or a geriatric psychiatrist. All would be good choices, Carol.

Me: I have to wait to change my plan in 2014.

Carole Larkin: Changing from Preferred Care is absolutely the right thing to do. You will get more and longer services on Straight Medicare D and a Supplemental Medicare policy. There are medical insurance specials (brokers handling a lot of different companies) that will find you the best deal for both of you at the cheapest price.  

Me: I do need help. It's not working here as I wrote on my last blog post yesterday.

Carole Larkin: A geriatric care manager could not only answer your questions for you, but also give you guidance on what to do in the future, and give you the specific names of resources you need to solve your problems. In addition to all that, they would find out what was at the bottom of the runaround you are getting from everyone (hospital, Dr., insurance).  The Geriatric care manager is a professional and knows what's going on, and they could really get in trouble if they've screwed up. Carol, I'm telling you, you'd save money, time and STRESS using one of them. I'd suggest either an RN or a Social Worker.

Me: And how to I find one? I mean I don't keep phone books anymore and the Internet has so many sites these days.

Carole Larkin: Just try the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers/GCM Specialist. http://www.caremanager.org/

Me: Wonderful! Can I put this on my blog?

Carole Larkin: Of course you can. Do me this favor though. Put my business website (www.thirdageservices.com)
on it because there I tell people that I do telephone and email consults just like I'm doing for you now.

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I have spotted three Geriatric Care Managers in Lakeland and when I get our tax return I will go and hire one of them. Preferred Care with its Vision and Dental works well for me, but not for my husband at this stage of dementia.

It is now a week since hubby first started on antibiotics and Imodium for his UTI (Urinary Tract Infection). He is so much better. He finally showered and I helped him shave off his thick beard. My neighbor, Kenny, volunteer caregiver while I am out of the house, and I have noticed the difference each day. (An interview of Kenny will be coming on this blog.)

Hubby and I went to the movie "42" last night. DH got all choked up at the appropriate spots. He slowly ate a hotdog with mustard and relish. I relished having my husband back and going to church with him today. Giving him lots of Pediatric Electrolyte and cranberry juice to prevent dehydration and further UTI infections. Have to develop a cranberry bread with coconut oil as well, and I will share the recipe here.

Besides Carole Larkin, special thanks also to others who emailed me suggestions, texted my cell and of course all of you prayer warriors out there. It takes a village to be a caregiver/lovegiver for family with dementia.  

This and That TWO

So thankful for all of you who have prayed during my health scare that I wrote about earlier this week.

The Pill Pusher. My husband's pills are so powerful that they landed me in the hospital. Many days we argue about his taking them in the morning before I leave to substitute teach. Then I can call him and remind him to take them and have even come home and he hasn't taken them. He has considered me a real nag. I made an executive decision. I have long known that routine is so important for Alzheimer's patients. This is why Jake and DH are going to the Senior Center once a week now--getting used to a routine--Sally's brilliant idea. My husband's routine of the clipboard schedule for the day also works; one side shows his schedule and the other side shows mine. We have different pill boxes now and a new routine. Now we both take our medicine at 7 am and 7 pm and that is on the typed schedule. I reinforce this by reminding him that he doesn't want me to take his pills again and land in the hospital.

Garage door is fixed. Just off track. I got explanation on how to put it back on track. Only a $35 service call. Hubby used to understand this and so I didn't bother learning about it. Also I need to learn how to use our expensive carpet cleaner and will go to a vacuum cleaner repair man to find out how. Hubby no longer knows. About a year ago we had a professional come in and clean carpets and now stains have come up from that experience--from the mud they left when the carpet didn't dry. We really can't afford to re-carpet the whole house. I guess stained carpeting is better in case one of us falls again as I did on Tuesday. But the stains are so noticeable.

Making Christmas simple. Decided to not make counted cross stitch for niece and nephew in California. Maybe next year when my wrists are better. Making three next generation educational quilts where there are young children in the family. That cleaned-off pool table provides room to cut them out.  Had hoped to mail these today, but my recent hospitalization happened. Other gifts have been mailed or are ready to be delivered.

Christmas letters are nowhere done--I have always done these in the past even with my late husband. I have bought Christmas cards and may send some of them. Or really, I think I would just like to call people. Whatcha think? People's preferred means of communication so confusing these days! Facebook. Facebook messaging. Texting. Snail mail/yearly Christmas cards. Phone call. Maybe I will do a combination of contacts.

Breaking News on the School Shooting in CT. 

Hug your family and friends!

What I'm Learning About Senior Health, Part One

Some of this information may not be new, but I decided to blog about it anyway, both for the lovegiver's health and the loved one's health.

A University of Massachusetts-Lowell clinical trial showed that drinking apple juice significantly improved mood and behavior among a group of patients diagnosed with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease. Cornell University research also suggests that quercetin may be the compound in apples that protects brain cells against oxidative stress associated with Alzheimer's.

This was reported on The Alzheimer's Reading Room. Of course actual apples have more fiber than apple juice has. My husband regularly gets applesauce.

Get the proper rest you need according to a study here.  Research suggests:

1. Avoid going to bed and getting up at different times.
2. Don't do games and social networking before bed. These keep your mind racing.
3. Don't read or watch TV in bed.
4. Keep the light in the bedroom low. I do think that the Alzheimer's patient does need some light, however, so they can identify things at night.
5. Sleep helps fight off infections by releasing hormones in the body.
6. Energy is restored.
7. The brain is working to create new pathways. You know the expression, "Let's sleep on it."
8. While we sleep the heart rate and blood pressure are reduced.

I also wrote earlier on this blog about rest here.

How we process our food is important according to Kimberly Snyder. I have also pinned some of her health ideas on my Pinterest Board which you can follow by clicking below. Our loved ones need fiber from vegetables, fruits and whole grains. According to Kimberly, artificial sweetners aren't absorbed by our bodies, so they pull water into the intestines leading to loose stools. Stevia is the most acceptable artificial sweetner and I use a combination of real sugar and stevia for my husband. Murky pee could be a uninary track infection that caregivers are so concerned about for their loved ones; patients can go downhill with these infections but not complain I read on The Alzheimer's Reading Room (see link on side). So we need to check their pee.

The older we get, the less thirsty we feel and then the more tired. I have a friend, Shirley, who sends me wonderful e-mail and I discovered from that e-mail a strategy for drinking our water.
Drinking water at a certain times maximizes its effectiveness on the body:

• 2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs  
• 1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal - helps digestion
• 1 glass of water before taking a bath - helps lower blood pressure  
• 1 glass of water before going to bed - avoids stroke or heart attack

We also know that we wake up in the middle of the night and get a cramp in our leg because we needed more water or maybe the potassium in a banana. Older people need potassium, but I have heard that potassium pills need careful monitoring and the banana is as easier way to obtain that potassium. On Weight Watchers I can count a banana as zero points (as long as I limit them).

I also found out that a person needs to take CoQ10 with a stanine such as Lipitor or Crestor. Our chiropractor also recommended it as I wrote here.

Oh, and walk carefully so you or your loved one don't fall. My husband and I usually hold hands. Slows me down, but oh well! I get my exercise separately from my husband.

In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for ... ... It is of no use for you to get up early, and to go late to your rest, with the bread of sorrow for your food; for the Lord gives to his loved ones in sleep.  Psalm 127:2  

Our Dog Ziggy

My friend from a writing class always sends forwarded e-mail. This picture is from one and captures what I want to say about dog, Ziggy.

Ziggy doesn't like me to leave the house just as hubby misses me.

I'm getting dressed and Ziggy is getting upset.

When I leave, I kiss hubby and Ziggy. When I call hubby tells me how Ziggy misses me.  Meanwhile, Ziggy is a wonderful companion for hubby while I am gone. I do not believe that my hubby would wander as some Alzheimer's patients do, because he and Ziggy are devoted to each other.


from Pinterest

Now there are dog people and cat people. We are dog people. I do think that the unconditional love of a good pet helps the stability of persons with dementia. On my husband's daily clipboard are reminders:

1. Has Ziggy been outside?
2. Has Ziggy been fed. 

Sometimes he will forget to shave, take his pills, eat lunch when I leave the house early, but care of Ziggy is his top priority. Pets are such good therapy both for persons with dementia and their caregivers/lovegivers.

The Pill Pusher and Other Routines

Tuppleware cup with pills now works

We were out late last night. We both forgot our pills last night because we were out to midnight after a wedding and came home tired and the PILL PUSHER (me) forgot to take the pills to the reception and forgot to have us take our pills when we came home.

Pill-taking has been trial and error. Sometimes hubby refuses to take pills if it isn't in the routine that works. He has often forgotten pills in the SUN-SAT pill container even though those are in plain sight. But routine does work with dementia patients.
 
Alzheimer's patients like routine, but not always variety. Hubby's meal routines work for us when I have to leave the house. For breakfast DH has coffee usually or Diet Lipton Green Tea, one Emerald Breakfast on the go! packet, unsweetened applesauce that I put in a little container (I keep several in the frig) and two "ice cubes" of coconut oil fudge I have written about on this blog. His pills come out of a Sun-Sat AM pill box that I put in a little Tuppleware cup on the plate.  Lunch will be on  plate in the frig when I am gone: a sandwich in a baggie, yogurt with blueberries added and crunchies, and two more coconut oil fudge "ice cubes", a lunch that he rarely  needs to warm up because most of the time it is just a sandwich.  I use this pill tupperware cup at dinner for his PM pills as well (just didn't work last night).

This morning I left the house at 6:30 AM for my 7 AM Weight Watcher meeting before assembling my husband's simple breakfast above, letting him sleep in. I thought I would be home in time for us to have breakfast together. Instead I called him to tell him how to put it together so I could go to breakfast after Weight Watchers with two ladies. On the phone I gave him one idea at a time: get the breakfast packet, etc. He was able to do this because this simple breakfast he has many days is part of his routine. He likes to feel he can do things.

He even called my cell this morning  to see how he could feed our dog. He remembered that he is supposed to ask me each morning if I have fed the dog and if The Pill Pusher has had her pills--then he checks these off on his clipboard schedule for the day. Routine is soooo important for Alzheimer's patients.

So in summary on routines:

• Clipboard schedule with activities to check off. Schedule also has phone numbers on it. Husband requested schedule some time ago and it works for us because he knows he has dementia and needs reminders.
• Tuppleware with pills on the breakfast and dinner plate so that Pill Pusher doesn't have to nag.
• Keep items in the same place. Don't change where the cell phone gets plugged in for example!

But oh those cell phones and keys! I am the one that needs to have a routine to check on these things!