Tag: dementia

Photo Fun

So the photo a day challenge thing was super easy to do during the Disney World vacation. Now that we’re home I’m finding it tough. I’m still up to date, but we’ve gone from wonderful Disney views to shit like this:

137/365
136/365

Oh well.

I saw both of my parents today. It was rough. My father has been sick with a cold since leaving the hospital so we haven’t been able to bring him to see my mother. During that time my mother also tested positive for Covid, so it’s been a consistent kick in the scrotum. Today I was able to bring my father to the nursing home to see my mother. It was heartbreaking. My father was desperate to see her, but when we got there she was completely unresponsive. I was able to feed her some of her lunch, and my father held her hand, but she wasn’t really there, if you know what I mean. Over all I think the trip did help my father’s state of mind, a little at least. It was worth it even if it was hard to bare.

To pile on, the kids are gone. Harry drove back to school today. Bellana goes back to school tomorrow, but she is staying at her Dad’s tonight. Sad faces all around. Sure we had them for two full weeks during vacation, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want more time. Greed is good, as Gordon Gecko once said. Did I get that name right? Michael Douglas in Wall Street, right? Whatever.

Further bad news, my vacation is over tomorrow and I have to go back to work. Also, I have an ass load if work that has to be done with a deadline on Tuesday. Yippee! Way to plan that one out, fat boy.

On an unrelated positive note, The Last of Us series will premier on HBO tonight. A new zombie(adjacent?) show, just in time for the end of The Walking Dead. I’m looking forward to having the shit scared out of me.

Busy Monday

It’s been a busy morning. I’m wrapping up lunch right now and I feel like I haven’t had a minute to get my head straight today. I also had like five typos in the previous two sentences. What’s up, Robert?

I’m tired today. I didn’t fall asleep until almost 1:30am. I was then awake at around 7:00am, which is much later than I had hoped. Oh well. I’ll make it through the day and hopefully get to bed early tonight. Maybe. Who knows.

This weekend was busy as well. I spent most of Friday out of work on sick time so that I could stay in the ER with my father. He had massive back pain come up out of nowhere on Thursday. My brother took him to the ER where they waited for nine hours before seeing a doctor. The hospital was 100% full so they couldn’t admit him for the night. He ended up staying in an ER room. I relieved my brother at around 7:00am after his heroic night without sleep. Dad’s pain seemed to fix itself somehow and he was discharged in the mid-afternoon. I got home around 5:00pm or so. Maybe a smidge earlier than that.

From there the weekend of home improvement kicked off. Jen and I made about 650 trips to various Home Depot and Lowes locations. We installed a new cabinet in the kitchen, thanks to huge help from Jen’s step father, Sherman. I installed a wire pull out shelf system which almost killed me. Sherman helped me fix a small issue I was having, and then he installed a counter top onto the new cabinet. It looked great. Jen and I did the finishing work and then started rearranging things in the kitchen. We got some new cookware and saved off the old stuff for when a certain college student graduates and potentially needs a kitchen of her own at some point over the summer.

We were actually thinking about adding three cabinets and a great big pantry and a set of four shelves, but we scrapped all of that as possible overkill. Outside of home improvement, I was only able to get to my mother once. She had a brief moment of awareness when I got there. She asked me to get her a drink. That doesn’t sound like much, but compared to how she normally acts when I am there, that little interaction was huge. A nurse brought her some ice cream too and she devoured it. Normally getting her to eat is a struggle. Not then. She dug in and went after it. It was literally heart warming.

Other than that, there was just a lot of together time with me and my love, Jen. There was a lot of television watched, too much. The Walking Dead and House of the Dragon and Rings of Power are all up to date. Tonight I will go grocery shopping. Tomorrow I have a doctors appointment in the morning. Wednesday we have tons of television to watch. Good stuff.

For now though, lunch is over. Back to work, Robert.

Visit

Visiting my mother. She’s asleep in the dining room. That’s not uncommon. It makes me sad, but as dad once said, if she’s sleeping she’s not in pain. That’s some bright side thinking right there.

I’m hitting the grocery store on the way home and might (if weather and population allow) stop at The Park and snap a pic or two. As always, we will see.

Let’s Start the Day

It’s Sunday, the last day of July. Let’s make this a good one, shall we?

Today is our last day with Bellana for the summer. She’s moving back to Vermont early in the morning tomorrow. She’s at her Dad’s right now but will be coming here around lunch time.

I just setup my food/drink spreadsheet for today. Now I am having a protein shake, half of one at least, and then I am heading off to visit Mom. On the way home I will swap out the empty propane tank from our gas grill for a full one and then when Bellana get here we’ll have a cookout. After that it will be Stranger Things season four episode seven, as discussed yesterday, and then we’ll just hang out with Bellana one more time. Harry has to work this evening so we’ll lose him at some point, which makes me sad, but he’ll be here for some of the night. That’s good. Harry doesn’t move back to Vermont until the end of August, so we still have time to spend with him.

Today is going to be a good day. I can tell.

Okay, heading off to visit Mom for a while. Wish me luck.

Rough Visit

My father got to see my mother today for the first time in a long time. Mom recognized him but wasn’t in a good way. I suppose it could have been worse. When I got there she was in a rough place. It’s difficult, but I’d feel worse if I couldn’t get there.

Back at the house, Jen has introduced Harry to Arrested Development. We are burning through it at breakneck pace.

We are also planning to go for a walk in Boston tomorrow. Both film cameras are coming. When the Nikon runs out of film the Pentax will take over.

Until then, we are about 90 minutes away from winning Mega Millions. 1.1 Billion US dollars? I’ll take it.

55 Years

Today is my parents’ 55th wedding anniversary. On this day in the summer of love, 1967, those two crazy kids got hitched. They are not currently living in the same facility. Dad is in an assisted living place in Billerica and Mom is in a nursing facility in Andover. It’s devastating. Any time I visit Mom I try to call Dad so they can connect a little, but my Mother mostly doesn’t get what’s going on and it fails. Dad was insistent that he see her today, rightly so, and my brother is taking him. My brother saw Mom yesterday and it sounds like it was a pretty rough day for her. The fear is that the same thing will happen today and it will some how make things worse for both parents. When I try to pretend I am an optimist, I try to envision something in Mom’s head snapping into focus when she sees Dad. Fingers crossed. Really hoping something like that happens. Seriously.

Anyway, 55 years is a huge number. Do me a favor and take a second to wish my folks a happy anniversary. Maybe some happy vibes from the electronic universe will help them connect today. Wouldn’t that be great?

Moved

My mother was moved from the hospital to a new facility today. This is what we’ve been waiting and hoping and crossing our fingers for.

My brother and sister are there with her. I’m stuck here working and feeling guilty that I am not there.

I sent a text saying that I was afraid to ask for an update on how things are going.

My brother wrote back, not well.

ShitShitShitShitShitShitShitShit.

Progress

Remember that little thing I posted yesterday about crossing your fingers and hoping for good news on my mother’s healthcare front?

It may have worked. Thanks for your help.

We should know for sure early this afternoon, but it looks like there was actual progress made. I am not going to let myself feel relieved at all until it actually happens, but for now…

PleasePleasePleasePleasePlease.

My fingers are still crossed.

Cross Your Fingers

Everyone cross your fingers.

We may have a positive development on my mother’s healthcare front.

PleasePleasePleasePleasePlease.

I know I have said this a couple of times already but this one feels closer than the previous false alarms.

Fingers Eternally Crossed.

PleasePleasePleasePleasePlease.