My journey to a debt free life

Cherryfudge

What a horrible weekend. Sending hugs and hopes for a better day tomorrow.

milann

A stressful weekend indeed. Sending positive vibes for you 🤞

Seasidegal58

What a rotten weekend indeed OBL. ☹️ Fingers crossed for a better week and an improvement in your dad. 

Onebrokelady

Work was so so yesterday. I felt irritated all day and really didn't want to be there but there were no major dramas.

Dad has been moved onto the ward where DD works so she has had to temporarily move to work on another ward because you can't treat or look after a relative . The management did offer to move Dad because DD has 26 patients that she was working with on her ward and she will now have to learn about 30 ish new patients she has never met plus support a band 5 OT on the ward next door.

DD decided to move wards as she didn't think it was fair to keep moving Dad as he is very confused and he told us yesterday that he likes the ward he is on now. I'm am very annoyed though because the OT that has had to go onto DDs ward actually got annoyed about it and said so to DD, she didn't think it was fair that she had to move and Dad stay where he was😡😡😡 DD said oh I am sorry my grandad is ill and being inconvenient.
Two of my nieces went to see him at different times yesterday and he thought they were his daughters 😢 he also has no memory of us visiting him and told my niece that he was bored and lonely. I've been every day since the day he was admitted and he can't remember me being there. I am finding this increasingly harder to deal with . On a positive note he looked a lot better yesterday so the antibiotics must be working. The hospital desperately needs the beds so if he can take oral meds he might get discharged soon 🤞the consultant on today was getting everyone out so I will wait and see.

Today I have been looking after my youngest grandson. I don't look after them normally but his granny has had an operation so I came in as back up childcare. I stopped looking after them during the pandemic and then have been too ill to be reliable. We had a nice day though, he wanted chicken nuggets, chips and ketchup for his lunch and was very worried I wouldn't have ketchup but I showed him the bottle in the fridge and he cheered up then 😀 I had to go into town so we went to Burger King. I do not do fast food cafes but made an exception today and Burger King have a good vegan selection so it was ok for fast food. I've got him again next week but won't be doing Burger King again as it's too dear and I'm on a budget. He did bring two hot cross buns for us to have together for our breakfast though which was nice.
It was really funny though as on the way home he fell asleep on the bus and I could not wake him up. He never has a nap in the day but was snoring away. The bus was nearing our stop but it goes on a big loop around all the houses after I get off then comes back up my road so I stayed on the bus and went round again in the hope he would wake up. The bus driver thought it was hilarious 😀we came back up my road and he was still asleep. I stood him up and he did wake up then but tried to climb back on the seat to go back to sleep 😀 he won't sleep tonight now.

Tomorrow I'm going to meet my friend for coffee and I also need to catch up on the housework. I did get some washing done today and swept the floors but that was all because I was busy playing with the train track 

Cherryfudge

Such a hard time with your Dad. Could you maybe leave a greetings card or a photo to remind him you've visited? Hopefully he will continue to improve and be able to come out soon.

It sounds as though you've had a lovely day with your youngest grandson! Maybe next time could be picnic week? Or a make-your-own Burger king at home? That's very sweet about him sleeping on the bus.  

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge said:

Such a hard time with your Dad. Could you maybe leave a greetings card or a photo to remind him you've visited? Hopefully he will continue to improve and be able to come out soon.

It sounds as though you've had a lovely day with your youngest grandson! Maybe next time could be picnic week? Or a make-your-own Burger king at home? That's very sweet about him sleeping on the bus.  

I'm thinking of making a visitors book for use at home and for if he ends up in hospital again. I saw them on Amazon,they are aimed at people in nursing homes but I think it would work at home too. The visitor just writes in when they came and just some details of what they did or talked about. Of course he doesn't often know what day it is either so I'm not sure if it would work

Cherryfudge

I don't know whether it would help, but some people use a 'dementia clock' that has the day of the week, morning/afternoon, and the year as well as the usual things.

A visitor's book sounds good. Less likely to be lost, as well! Perhaps start with a few photos of people he knows, with their name and relationship to him, so staff or visitors can talk to him. And a little list of family phone numbers.

How is he today? And how are you?

OpalGirl

The visitor's book sound good. When my aunt was in care with alzheimers we had a small desk top calendar where visitors would write they had been. It also proved to be a conversation point/memory jog as the person visiting would flick through it and say to my aunt oh I see so and has been to see you and that would initiate a conversation. 

foxgloves

@OBL - When my Mum was in hospital, her mind was v much affected by a combination of a serious infection & the shock to her system of emergency surgery. She was moved to palliative care about a month later & reminded in hospital until she died & for some of that time, she didn't know who we were. Neither my sister or I lived locally but visited as often as we could & stayed at Mums house to facilitate extra visits. The hospital staff put a notebook by Mum's bed so visitors could just jot down that they'd been in to see her with the date. It really helped us to know she'd had several visits from her friends, church community, etc, as she became increasingly unable to remember or tell us anything. As the nursing staff changed frequently, I felt it was also important that they knew we were visiting Mum as often as we could so we logged our visits too..
My sister & I also made a little note in the book if we'd noticed changes in Mum since our last visit, as the lovely palliative care team said we know her best. So I don't know if the use of a notebook is routine, but we did find it had benefits.
Difficult times for you. Sending love.
F x

Sun_Addict

Dementia and Alzheimer’s are such cruel diseases. It’s heartbreaking that so many people have their latter years blighted in this way. Brilliant idea about people recording their visits and it instigating conversation. When Mr SA was receiving treatment for his brain tumour he was adamant no one ever visited him, despite me and other family members being there every single day. Something like that would’ve been very helpful back then. 

Take care of yourself too in all this x