Friday, April 23, 2010
Remember, he's special!
We had a quiet Easter with Bob. He doesn’t do much anymore. Getting him to get up out of bed seems to be a struggle these days. There was one day that he decided to stay in bed the entire day, until Rob came home. Rob and Pat are the only ones that can motivate him now. It seems that Rob comes home at least three days a week now and sits to have a heart to heart with his dad.
His mental health is failing more and more. When he returns to the doctor in a few weeks we are going to ask for a PET scan on him. I don’t think it will give us information to help improve his quality of life, but rather it will give us the information we need to understand what he is going through.
He likes to get up in the middle of the night and wake the house up. It will be two AM and he will start calling for everyone asking, “What’s going on? What are we going to do today?” One night I sat in the hall reading my book telling him to go back to his room every twenty minutes. He was in a state of sleep walk and we were told that this is a symptom of Parkinson’s. There isn’t a medication that will stop this and he has no memory of it the next day. He tore down his curtains and rods in his room, so we put brown craft paper over his windows. I left about 12” at the top of the window to allow light in. At first we just left the windows bare, but that was really bad, since he could still see out the window. Covering the windows up stopped a lot of the confusion at night seeing lights and shadows out the window. If he pulls the paper off, it is a whole lot cheaper to replace than curtain rods that are bent in half.
Rob takes Bob outside after he gets home from work to walk around the house and the back yard. They walk around the house twice and then Bob has to sit and rest for awhile. Rob can get his dad to walk about six times around the house before he is exhausted and done. Then we sit on the back porch for awhile. The weather has been nice lately and sitting outside seeing the birds, squirrels, and ducks have been a real treat.
He misses Kentucky and his friends and relatives that he can’t see anymore. He talks of his grandchildren and asks how they are. If you think about it, try and drop him a card with a picture. He doesn’t read anymore, it’s not that he can’t see; he can’t comprehend what he has read. He will pick up an advertisement from off the table and carry it around with him for hours, looking at it, and trying to figure it out. After a few hours, I will ask him if he is done with it and after he hands it back, I will read it, or ask if he’s hungry for pizza since it was a coupon for pizza. Then he will understand what the paper was and respond. Pictures he likes. He sat one day for almost the entire day looking at old photo albums.
We got him a new chair! He kept lying down on the couch and I told Rob I was tired of fighting with him to sit up. We went and bought him a recliner. He can’t figure out how to push back with his back and lie back, so he sits up half the day and then Rob or I will walk over and push on the back and he can lean back half of the day. I honestly think he would prefer the couch, but we told him that we bought the chair special just for him.
We thought about a lift chair, but I am against it at this time. It would work with him, but Bob is the type that if you give him on inch of help, he will go for the mile. He will get to the point that he will refuse to get up without help, and he can get up. He will also play with the buttons which will be a nightmare. I know we will wind up covering up the buttons to keep him off of them. Then he will refuse to get up unless WE pushed the button. No, bad, bad, bad idea.
Remember the special one this week. He remembers all of you, it may not be all the time, but he does still remember.
His mental health is failing more and more. When he returns to the doctor in a few weeks we are going to ask for a PET scan on him. I don’t think it will give us information to help improve his quality of life, but rather it will give us the information we need to understand what he is going through.
He likes to get up in the middle of the night and wake the house up. It will be two AM and he will start calling for everyone asking, “What’s going on? What are we going to do today?” One night I sat in the hall reading my book telling him to go back to his room every twenty minutes. He was in a state of sleep walk and we were told that this is a symptom of Parkinson’s. There isn’t a medication that will stop this and he has no memory of it the next day. He tore down his curtains and rods in his room, so we put brown craft paper over his windows. I left about 12” at the top of the window to allow light in. At first we just left the windows bare, but that was really bad, since he could still see out the window. Covering the windows up stopped a lot of the confusion at night seeing lights and shadows out the window. If he pulls the paper off, it is a whole lot cheaper to replace than curtain rods that are bent in half.
Rob takes Bob outside after he gets home from work to walk around the house and the back yard. They walk around the house twice and then Bob has to sit and rest for awhile. Rob can get his dad to walk about six times around the house before he is exhausted and done. Then we sit on the back porch for awhile. The weather has been nice lately and sitting outside seeing the birds, squirrels, and ducks have been a real treat.
He misses Kentucky and his friends and relatives that he can’t see anymore. He talks of his grandchildren and asks how they are. If you think about it, try and drop him a card with a picture. He doesn’t read anymore, it’s not that he can’t see; he can’t comprehend what he has read. He will pick up an advertisement from off the table and carry it around with him for hours, looking at it, and trying to figure it out. After a few hours, I will ask him if he is done with it and after he hands it back, I will read it, or ask if he’s hungry for pizza since it was a coupon for pizza. Then he will understand what the paper was and respond. Pictures he likes. He sat one day for almost the entire day looking at old photo albums.
We got him a new chair! He kept lying down on the couch and I told Rob I was tired of fighting with him to sit up. We went and bought him a recliner. He can’t figure out how to push back with his back and lie back, so he sits up half the day and then Rob or I will walk over and push on the back and he can lean back half of the day. I honestly think he would prefer the couch, but we told him that we bought the chair special just for him.
We thought about a lift chair, but I am against it at this time. It would work with him, but Bob is the type that if you give him on inch of help, he will go for the mile. He will get to the point that he will refuse to get up without help, and he can get up. He will also play with the buttons which will be a nightmare. I know we will wind up covering up the buttons to keep him off of them. Then he will refuse to get up unless WE pushed the button. No, bad, bad, bad idea.
Remember the special one this week. He remembers all of you, it may not be all the time, but he does still remember.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)