Friday, November 28, 2008
Thanksgiving 2008
Bob had a great Thanksgiving. He wondered why we were having a big meal until I told him it was Thanksgiving Day. It is easy for him to lose track of days. Rob and I snuck out of the house early Thursday morning and ran to K-mart. They had some great sales on for just Thursday and since I don’t shop Black Friday, we decided to try shopping on Thanksgiving. It worked out very well with hardly anyone there. We got the rest of the Christmas shopping done and we don’t have to worry about buying anything else.
After we returned home we got the dinner going in the oven and then I got Bob to work on his Christmas cards. He made most of them this year. I bought a box of cards that had a simple, large design on them. Sarah and I took half of the cards and cut the design out. I then had Bob take the design, apply thick foam tape to the back of it and apply it to the second card. This was a great project for him. He had to apply the tape to the back of the card where I had put X’s, second he had to match the design he had with the right card, and last he had to line the design up on the card. It made the cards look so much nicer.
When the cards were finished, we then made a list of people and he signed his cards. This was also hard for him. Some of you may get some funny things written in your cards, but the funniest story was his brother, Dave’s card. He asked me how he should sign the card.
I asked him, “What does your brother call you?”
“I can’t write that, that isn’t nice.” He responded.
I laughed and said, “What does he call you when he talks to other people?”
He thought for awhile and replied, “That still isn’t very nice. I can’t sign my name like that.”
“Oh, come on. What is the name your Mother named you?” I asked him.
“Bob”, he said.
“Right and that is what your brother calls you. Sign your name Bob on the card.” I told him.
“Well, I will sign it Bob, but he won’t have any idea who the card is from.” He said in an obstinate manner.
I told him to sign it in a way that his brother would know it was from him. He signed the card, Bob and under that he wrote, your bother.
After the cards were signed we took a break and ate dinner. That evening he was surprised with a visit from his daughter Tina and most of her family. Pat, Tina, Helen, and Christina came by. He really enjoyed their visit and talked about it most of the day on Friday. They brought a wonderful blueberry pie that Christina made and home made Italian cookies that Pat’s Mother made. The cookies didn’t make it to the next morning. The pie we saved and had it warm the following night at dinner.
Bob worked Friday on painting wrapping paper. I am tired of buying wrapping paper that we throw away and it costs money. I normally buy too much and have no place to store it; or I don’t buy enough. So this year I have collected sheets of brown paper from my work that gets thrown in the trash, and we are painting with stamps on it making our own wrapping paper. Bob has had fun helping Sarah and I paint. We put the paint on the stamps and he applies it to the paper. I get cheap wrapping paper, and Bob gets to do a project that helps him.
Be on the look out for your Christmas cards. I should get them all in the mail by Monday. Be sure to give him a ring and tell him you got it and ask him how he made it. If I missed you on the list, I don’t have an address for you. Send him a card and he will be glad to make you a card and send one back.
After we returned home we got the dinner going in the oven and then I got Bob to work on his Christmas cards. He made most of them this year. I bought a box of cards that had a simple, large design on them. Sarah and I took half of the cards and cut the design out. I then had Bob take the design, apply thick foam tape to the back of it and apply it to the second card. This was a great project for him. He had to apply the tape to the back of the card where I had put X’s, second he had to match the design he had with the right card, and last he had to line the design up on the card. It made the cards look so much nicer.
When the cards were finished, we then made a list of people and he signed his cards. This was also hard for him. Some of you may get some funny things written in your cards, but the funniest story was his brother, Dave’s card. He asked me how he should sign the card.
I asked him, “What does your brother call you?”
“I can’t write that, that isn’t nice.” He responded.
I laughed and said, “What does he call you when he talks to other people?”
He thought for awhile and replied, “That still isn’t very nice. I can’t sign my name like that.”
“Oh, come on. What is the name your Mother named you?” I asked him.
“Bob”, he said.
“Right and that is what your brother calls you. Sign your name Bob on the card.” I told him.
“Well, I will sign it Bob, but he won’t have any idea who the card is from.” He said in an obstinate manner.
I told him to sign it in a way that his brother would know it was from him. He signed the card, Bob and under that he wrote, your bother.
After the cards were signed we took a break and ate dinner. That evening he was surprised with a visit from his daughter Tina and most of her family. Pat, Tina, Helen, and Christina came by. He really enjoyed their visit and talked about it most of the day on Friday. They brought a wonderful blueberry pie that Christina made and home made Italian cookies that Pat’s Mother made. The cookies didn’t make it to the next morning. The pie we saved and had it warm the following night at dinner.
Bob worked Friday on painting wrapping paper. I am tired of buying wrapping paper that we throw away and it costs money. I normally buy too much and have no place to store it; or I don’t buy enough. So this year I have collected sheets of brown paper from my work that gets thrown in the trash, and we are painting with stamps on it making our own wrapping paper. Bob has had fun helping Sarah and I paint. We put the paint on the stamps and he applies it to the paper. I get cheap wrapping paper, and Bob gets to do a project that helps him.
Be on the look out for your Christmas cards. I should get them all in the mail by Monday. Be sure to give him a ring and tell him you got it and ask him how he made it. If I missed you on the list, I don’t have an address for you. Send him a card and he will be glad to make you a card and send one back.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
A Hard Lesson
Sometimes we learn things the hard way. Rob and I learned something this week the very hard way. For all of you that have a Medicare health plan out there; here is a heads up in case you don’t know like we didn’t. Your medications are covered under an amount of money for the year. Once you use up your yearly amount you pay for the rest of your medications out of pocket. OUCH!
Bob has never had this problem because he has never been on many medications before and the ones that he has been on have not cost much. So imagine my surprise when I went to pick up his prescription and find that the bill is $208.00. I quickly asked the girl to recheck for me since we had always paid a very low amount in the past. She checked and told me I needed to call Humana.
I did call Humana and talked with a very nice lady for about twenty minutes. Yep, you guessed right, I had to pay the $208.00. I couldn’t get the medication from the VA without first seeing his primary care Doctor, there wasn’t a generic drug available in the United States, and he couldn’t go without this drug for more than 24 hours without major side effects.
We found the same medication outside of the United States for yep, you guess right again, about $35.00. Problem is we have to wait three weeks for delivery. We ordered it for the next month. The new allotment kicks back in staring in January, so we only have to worry about the month of December.
I asked the girl at the pharmacy if she had a bow to put on the bottle for me since that was my Christmas present. Rob and I of course were upset that night. Who ever heard of paying $200.00 for a bottle of pills? Sigh! Live and learn. We know now, the hard way, and will be prepared next year. I will either have the VA ready for the medications, or we will be prepared to get them from another source with enough time for the medication to arrive.
Since I am sharing about medications I have to tell you that I opened Bob’s capsule in some chocolate pudding. It wasn’t a powder, but small glandules. He picked all of them out and laid them off to the side. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was taking out the plastic. I told him I thought they were sprinkles. He ignored my comments. The next night I mixed the chocolate pudding up and added real sprinkles on top. When I gave him the pudding he said, “Hey, that is the same as what was in the pudding last night, but these are colorful.” I told him yeah, and asked if he was going to pick them out also. He said no, he would try them. He ate them and told me he liked the sprinkles they tasted good. Thank goodness. They cost just pennies compared to the medication.
So class what did we learn this week? We learned that Medicare Health plans don’t always cover medications so always have a backup plan, and we learned that sprinkles in chocolate pudding are very good.
More importantly, I personally learned to put my trust in the Lord and look toward him for not just understanding, but guidance. Of course Rob and I were both very upset with the cost of things. Rob told me he felt like our family was being attacked. I had to agree with him. It does feel like that sometimes. And if we allow ourselves to be consumed with that attack then we lose.
Bob has never had this problem because he has never been on many medications before and the ones that he has been on have not cost much. So imagine my surprise when I went to pick up his prescription and find that the bill is $208.00. I quickly asked the girl to recheck for me since we had always paid a very low amount in the past. She checked and told me I needed to call Humana.
I did call Humana and talked with a very nice lady for about twenty minutes. Yep, you guessed right, I had to pay the $208.00. I couldn’t get the medication from the VA without first seeing his primary care Doctor, there wasn’t a generic drug available in the United States, and he couldn’t go without this drug for more than 24 hours without major side effects.
We found the same medication outside of the United States for yep, you guess right again, about $35.00. Problem is we have to wait three weeks for delivery. We ordered it for the next month. The new allotment kicks back in staring in January, so we only have to worry about the month of December.
I asked the girl at the pharmacy if she had a bow to put on the bottle for me since that was my Christmas present. Rob and I of course were upset that night. Who ever heard of paying $200.00 for a bottle of pills? Sigh! Live and learn. We know now, the hard way, and will be prepared next year. I will either have the VA ready for the medications, or we will be prepared to get them from another source with enough time for the medication to arrive.
Since I am sharing about medications I have to tell you that I opened Bob’s capsule in some chocolate pudding. It wasn’t a powder, but small glandules. He picked all of them out and laid them off to the side. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was taking out the plastic. I told him I thought they were sprinkles. He ignored my comments. The next night I mixed the chocolate pudding up and added real sprinkles on top. When I gave him the pudding he said, “Hey, that is the same as what was in the pudding last night, but these are colorful.” I told him yeah, and asked if he was going to pick them out also. He said no, he would try them. He ate them and told me he liked the sprinkles they tasted good. Thank goodness. They cost just pennies compared to the medication.
So class what did we learn this week? We learned that Medicare Health plans don’t always cover medications so always have a backup plan, and we learned that sprinkles in chocolate pudding are very good.
More importantly, I personally learned to put my trust in the Lord and look toward him for not just understanding, but guidance. Of course Rob and I were both very upset with the cost of things. Rob told me he felt like our family was being attacked. I had to agree with him. It does feel like that sometimes. And if we allow ourselves to be consumed with that attack then we lose.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Brrrrrr, it got cold! Cold for Florida, that is. Most of the rest of the country would be running around in shorts, but Floridians bundle up like it is going to snow. Bob has the heater going in his room and stays there most of the time keeping warm.
Bob was surprised with a warm visit from this Granddaughter, Helen, this last week. She stopped in with a friend to tell Pop she loved him and has been thinking of him. Bob was very happy after they left and was perky the whole next day.
Bob got more mail this week. He loves getting mail. His good friend, Charlie, sent him a ton of paper work on the Kentucky River. He has all the background information he will ever need to write his story about the time his friends went camping on the river.
Bob went bowling on Thursday. He always fusses about going and then has a blast of a time after he gets there. The key is that you don’t ever ask him if he wants to do something, you simply tell him he is “Going” to do something. He bowled two games and didn’t do half bad.
Friday, Bob went to see a child’s play, “If you give a Moose a Muffin”. I at first wasn’t going to go see this play since it was a child’s play, but decided it might be fun. I am so glad we went. It was a cute play and Bob enjoyed it. It was silly, but it was still a play and he always enjoys seeing a live performance.
After the play we went to paint some more at Studio Six. He had such a good time painting. Covering his hand in paint and then squishing it on the canvas is right up his alley. I have found that this form of painting is very therapeutic for him.
He shared with me the story of when he was taking an art class at the University of Kentucky. His buddy and he would always get to class early so they could sit in the front row of class. This time when they got to class, they discovered that there were black covers over the windows of the class room. They found this odd, but went to their seats and promptly got their things in order.
The class began and they soon realized that the reason the windows were all blacked out was because they were having a special model that day. Bob said he thought that she was very lovely, although he doesn’t remember since most of the class he looked down at his shoes too embarrassed to look up. “She didn’t have anything on and just sat there in front of us expecting us to draw her.” He told me. “I didn’t draw anything but round circles on my paper that day.” Yes, I found that very funny also.
We only have had one obstacle to climb over this week. Every night I give Bob his medication with chocolate milk. And here all along I have been thinking that he has been swallowing his pills. I give them to him one at a time. On Wednesday, he came into the kitchen as I was rinsing out his glass and showed me the “plastic” I had been feeding him. Yep, it was a capsule pill from one of his medications. My mouth fell open as I looked at this pill he had tried to chew. It had opened and was a mess in the palm of his hand.
“Pop, that isn’t plastic; it’s one of your pills I just gave you. You’re not supposed to eat it. You’re supposed to swallow it.” I told him.
“It’s still plastic.” He replied. “I told you that is what you were feeding me and this is proof.”
I told him I was sorry to throw the pill away in the trash. He did. Great! Now what was I suppose to do? Well, now Bob gets not only chocolate milk every night to take normal pills, which he doesn’t as yet have issues with; but now he also gets chocolate pudding. The chocolate pudding has the capsule contents mixed in it. So he gets a double treat every night and he is very happy about it. What EVER WORKS!!!!!
Give him a call this weekend. Encourage him to write on his story some or draw some illustrations for his story. He looks forward to all of your calls.
Bob was surprised with a warm visit from this Granddaughter, Helen, this last week. She stopped in with a friend to tell Pop she loved him and has been thinking of him. Bob was very happy after they left and was perky the whole next day.
Bob got more mail this week. He loves getting mail. His good friend, Charlie, sent him a ton of paper work on the Kentucky River. He has all the background information he will ever need to write his story about the time his friends went camping on the river.
Bob went bowling on Thursday. He always fusses about going and then has a blast of a time after he gets there. The key is that you don’t ever ask him if he wants to do something, you simply tell him he is “Going” to do something. He bowled two games and didn’t do half bad.
Friday, Bob went to see a child’s play, “If you give a Moose a Muffin”. I at first wasn’t going to go see this play since it was a child’s play, but decided it might be fun. I am so glad we went. It was a cute play and Bob enjoyed it. It was silly, but it was still a play and he always enjoys seeing a live performance.
After the play we went to paint some more at Studio Six. He had such a good time painting. Covering his hand in paint and then squishing it on the canvas is right up his alley. I have found that this form of painting is very therapeutic for him.
He shared with me the story of when he was taking an art class at the University of Kentucky. His buddy and he would always get to class early so they could sit in the front row of class. This time when they got to class, they discovered that there were black covers over the windows of the class room. They found this odd, but went to their seats and promptly got their things in order.
The class began and they soon realized that the reason the windows were all blacked out was because they were having a special model that day. Bob said he thought that she was very lovely, although he doesn’t remember since most of the class he looked down at his shoes too embarrassed to look up. “She didn’t have anything on and just sat there in front of us expecting us to draw her.” He told me. “I didn’t draw anything but round circles on my paper that day.” Yes, I found that very funny also.
We only have had one obstacle to climb over this week. Every night I give Bob his medication with chocolate milk. And here all along I have been thinking that he has been swallowing his pills. I give them to him one at a time. On Wednesday, he came into the kitchen as I was rinsing out his glass and showed me the “plastic” I had been feeding him. Yep, it was a capsule pill from one of his medications. My mouth fell open as I looked at this pill he had tried to chew. It had opened and was a mess in the palm of his hand.
“Pop, that isn’t plastic; it’s one of your pills I just gave you. You’re not supposed to eat it. You’re supposed to swallow it.” I told him.
“It’s still plastic.” He replied. “I told you that is what you were feeding me and this is proof.”
I told him I was sorry to throw the pill away in the trash. He did. Great! Now what was I suppose to do? Well, now Bob gets not only chocolate milk every night to take normal pills, which he doesn’t as yet have issues with; but now he also gets chocolate pudding. The chocolate pudding has the capsule contents mixed in it. So he gets a double treat every night and he is very happy about it. What EVER WORKS!!!!!
Give him a call this weekend. Encourage him to write on his story some or draw some illustrations for his story. He looks forward to all of your calls.
Friday, November 14, 2008
A Good Week
Well, it has been a hard week starting out, but ended up being great. The week started out bad because Bob was told by someone, he wasn’t drinking real beer. Opps! Can you see the large balloon floating above Bob’s head going "KAPOW"?
Poor Bob, it was like being told Santa isn’t real. We all know St. Nicholas is alive and well in all of us. Just like the beer he is drinking is totally real; it just contains a very small amount of alcohol.
Like the child who discovers from a friend that Santa isn’t real, he started questioning other things we were telling him. When we would get in the car, he didn’t believe we were really going to a field trip, he thought we were taking him to a nursing home. The trust was gone. It was going to take time to get it back. Thank goodness Alzheimer’s patients don’t remember a lot of short term things, because it only took about four days.
Bob got mail this week. That was a nice surprise for him. He received a card from my parents earlier in the week and then latter in the week his niece sent him UK’s basketball schedule. I will try to get that schedule posted on the blog. He was surprised and happy to get mail. He started the other day after we had been out to get the mail out of the mail box and Sarah stopped him. I had to giggle because I knew he was thinking there was something for him. I walked over and took the mail, looked through the stack, and told him he did get something, I handed him an advertisement. That ad is still sitting on his dresser.
Thursday, we had a lot of running around to do, and I took Bob and Sarah with me. We drove all over town to various places and even though he wasn’t happy it was good for him to just be out of the house. Bob is happy just to sit in his room all day. I know it is because he is comfortable with the four walls. There isn’t anything that changes there. The only thing he needs to concentrate on is the TV and he can look away every now and then. When he is in the car he is being forced to see many different things. It is too much for his mind sometimes.
Friday, we went to the park and the kids worked on art projects for our local VA nursing home. Bob enjoyed being at the park and he even painted some. He liked watching the kids work on the crafts, although he said he felt like they were out doing him with painting styles. I told him a true artist paints from the heart and not the head.
After the park we went to a pottery place and he painted some more on some ceramic pieces. It was a very artsy day. He had a great time and after the pottery painting he was looking at things on the side of the road asking about stores and buildings. That made me feel good, knowing he was having a good day. Music helps a lot also. I make sure that I have soothing music in the car with him.
He really liked the ceramics and was talking to me about painting more, and how he was going to think of different painting styles for when I take him back.----Take him back? Oh dear, here we go again…
Give him a ring this weekend. He loves to hear from you all. He says it’s been weeks since he has talked to anyone though. And if he tells you it’s been days since he has eaten, don’t believe him it has most likely just been hours.
Poor Bob, it was like being told Santa isn’t real. We all know St. Nicholas is alive and well in all of us. Just like the beer he is drinking is totally real; it just contains a very small amount of alcohol.
Like the child who discovers from a friend that Santa isn’t real, he started questioning other things we were telling him. When we would get in the car, he didn’t believe we were really going to a field trip, he thought we were taking him to a nursing home. The trust was gone. It was going to take time to get it back. Thank goodness Alzheimer’s patients don’t remember a lot of short term things, because it only took about four days.
Bob got mail this week. That was a nice surprise for him. He received a card from my parents earlier in the week and then latter in the week his niece sent him UK’s basketball schedule. I will try to get that schedule posted on the blog. He was surprised and happy to get mail. He started the other day after we had been out to get the mail out of the mail box and Sarah stopped him. I had to giggle because I knew he was thinking there was something for him. I walked over and took the mail, looked through the stack, and told him he did get something, I handed him an advertisement. That ad is still sitting on his dresser.
Thursday, we had a lot of running around to do, and I took Bob and Sarah with me. We drove all over town to various places and even though he wasn’t happy it was good for him to just be out of the house. Bob is happy just to sit in his room all day. I know it is because he is comfortable with the four walls. There isn’t anything that changes there. The only thing he needs to concentrate on is the TV and he can look away every now and then. When he is in the car he is being forced to see many different things. It is too much for his mind sometimes.
Friday, we went to the park and the kids worked on art projects for our local VA nursing home. Bob enjoyed being at the park and he even painted some. He liked watching the kids work on the crafts, although he said he felt like they were out doing him with painting styles. I told him a true artist paints from the heart and not the head.
After the park we went to a pottery place and he painted some more on some ceramic pieces. It was a very artsy day. He had a great time and after the pottery painting he was looking at things on the side of the road asking about stores and buildings. That made me feel good, knowing he was having a good day. Music helps a lot also. I make sure that I have soothing music in the car with him.
He really liked the ceramics and was talking to me about painting more, and how he was going to think of different painting styles for when I take him back.----Take him back? Oh dear, here we go again…
Give him a ring this weekend. He loves to hear from you all. He says it’s been weeks since he has talked to anyone though. And if he tells you it’s been days since he has eaten, don’t believe him it has most likely just been hours.
Friday, November 7, 2008
The Dentist
Thursday Bob had to go with Sarah and me to the dentist. Then we had to return the very next day for Bob to get his teeth cleaned. Yeah, that was a little messed up, but the dentist is only five minutes from the house and it got him out of the house both days.
He has been sleeping with his teeth in at night, and they have been falling out in the middle of the night, and then he tries to put them back in. This results in a few hours of lost sleep because he is messing with his teeth. I was unaware of this problem until we went to the dentist and he told me he wanted them to fix his teeth from falling out. Yeah, sorry guys, but I did giggle some with the idea of his teeth falling out at night.
I had the hygienist talk to him about taking his teeth out at night and soaking them. Now the routine will be that after he receives his chocolate milk at night he will also take his teeth out. Hopefully, that will fix the problem.
The TV is another problem that I am going to have to figure out how to set the timer on. Rob seems to think that you have to set the timer every night; I am not sure about that one. He doesn’t turn his TV off and falls asleep while watching it. In the middle of the night a commercial will come on loud and wake him up. He doesn’t know what time it is and them gets confused if it is time to get up or continue to sleep. So between the TV and his teeth, he isn’t getting a proper night sleep. Sleep deprivation is a serious issue with Alzheimer’s patients. If they don’t get enough sleep they can get very nasty and cranky.
He has really enjoyed his beer and thinks it is great he can drink again. So he is drinking enough liquids. He hardly drinks anything else though. That is alright with me. I just have to make sure that the refrigerator is always stocked.
Next week we have a pottery field trip and another VA project with the kids. I don’t tell him about events now until the day we go. He worries too much about the time, date, and how we are going to get there. It is best now just to go with the flow and enjoy the moment.
Give him a call this week end. He loves to hear from you all. Ask him who our new president is. He can’t remember how to pronounce Obama’s name nine out of ten times and comes up with his own name that is funny. We have been asking him all week about the president so he might get it right when you call. It just depends on what kind of a day he is having. Sometimes he says the new president will be good, and then other times he says….well, we will just leave it at that.
He has been sleeping with his teeth in at night, and they have been falling out in the middle of the night, and then he tries to put them back in. This results in a few hours of lost sleep because he is messing with his teeth. I was unaware of this problem until we went to the dentist and he told me he wanted them to fix his teeth from falling out. Yeah, sorry guys, but I did giggle some with the idea of his teeth falling out at night.
I had the hygienist talk to him about taking his teeth out at night and soaking them. Now the routine will be that after he receives his chocolate milk at night he will also take his teeth out. Hopefully, that will fix the problem.
The TV is another problem that I am going to have to figure out how to set the timer on. Rob seems to think that you have to set the timer every night; I am not sure about that one. He doesn’t turn his TV off and falls asleep while watching it. In the middle of the night a commercial will come on loud and wake him up. He doesn’t know what time it is and them gets confused if it is time to get up or continue to sleep. So between the TV and his teeth, he isn’t getting a proper night sleep. Sleep deprivation is a serious issue with Alzheimer’s patients. If they don’t get enough sleep they can get very nasty and cranky.
He has really enjoyed his beer and thinks it is great he can drink again. So he is drinking enough liquids. He hardly drinks anything else though. That is alright with me. I just have to make sure that the refrigerator is always stocked.
Next week we have a pottery field trip and another VA project with the kids. I don’t tell him about events now until the day we go. He worries too much about the time, date, and how we are going to get there. It is best now just to go with the flow and enjoy the moment.
Give him a call this week end. He loves to hear from you all. Ask him who our new president is. He can’t remember how to pronounce Obama’s name nine out of ten times and comes up with his own name that is funny. We have been asking him all week about the president so he might get it right when you call. It just depends on what kind of a day he is having. Sometimes he says the new president will be good, and then other times he says….well, we will just leave it at that.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
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