Doctor visit

Went to the doctor today who told George how much better his skin looked without as much alcohol. Unfortunately he has had a couple of slips but not too much, he has tried very hard. He is a lot less confused without it. Yesterday, while I was working, he went to Brighton on the bus and got himself a bottle of wine. By the time I got home he had drunk about 2/3 of the bottle. Last night he got himself a hot water bottle and filled it with black coffee!!! Luckily he did not soil himself as has happened at other times - fingers crossed that we can keep this up. He has memory clinic tomorrow morning which he enjoys.

Harakeke club

This morning George woke up complaining of a sore stomach - he did this every time he was going to the Evergreen club so I was mildly suspicious that he didn't want to go to the Harakeke club today. I took him there (he wasn't too keen) and once we got through the door he made himself at home. The rooms are purpose build and are lovely. People were sitting around chatting and he quickly made friends with a group of men around the same age.

I left him there and went to the home to see mum. George and my brother-in-law had been to see her yesterday and she repeatedly told me about the two men who came yesterday (she remembered that happening) and how pleased they were to see her. She remembered having a joke with them and kept asking me their names although the names actually did not seem to mean anything to her. I took her in lemonade (which she had asked George for yesterday) and some cakes etc. She enjoyed them but is not eating as much as she has been; for example she would easily eat 6 lamingtons (halves) but today only had two and only had half a glass of lemonade. She is getting more confused although will still have moments where she says something very clearly and lucidly.

Yesterday she asked my brother-in-law who he was and he explained he was married to her middle daughter. In a loud voice mum said: Well good luck to you!!

Twice lately George has gone to the toilet on the floor in the bathroom instead of the toilet (at night). I have tried putting plastic/newspaper on the floor hoping the noise would alert him that he was in the wrong place but that does not seem to have worked. We are trying leaving the bathroom door shut and the toilet light on and see how that goes. If that doesn't work I will put a lock on the bathroom door.

Social interaction

George's youngest son rang him to have a chat. George just loves to hear from his sons. After a phone call he tells me all about it so it obviously means so much to him and it is lovely when he gets a phone call like that. Another of his old friends from Tauranga rings regularly and he really looks forward to those conversations.

Today we are trying a new club, it is the Harakeke club. George is not that keen on the people at the Evergreen club so we are trying this one. It is held once a week and some of the people from the memory group go to this club. The memory club is now held once a month and will be this Friday. George really enjoys this group, he likes the two women who run it. One of these women is an old friend of another woman who worked for George years ago and we are still in contact with her via Skype. Skype is such a lovely way to be able to keep in touch - George loves it as there is the video contact.

My brother-in-law commented how much better George seems after giving up the wine - very true.

Yesterday the two of them went to visit my mother and had a good visit with her with lots of winks and laughs so that was lovely. She had another visitor during the morning and then they were there for an hour in the afternoon so she had visitors most of the day. It will be interesting to see if she remembers that when I go in this morning.

The wine again

George went out on Thursday while I was working. By the time I got home he had drunk half the bottle - result - more soiled pyjamas!! He got the message and poured out the rest of the bottle thank goodness but it takes a couple of days for things to come right again.

It is such an awful disease and it seems to be so random. This morning George came out with one slipper on and could not find the other one (it was by the bed where he left it) and kept going all around the place looking for it. I kept telling him where it was but that made no difference.

My brother-in-law came in last night to stay for a couple of nights. George loves having the company and they talked together last night after I went to bed. He is still able to hold a great conversation which is so good. The doctors told me that he probably would retain that ability for a long time as it is so deeply ingrained into his memory banks.

Retaining independence

The week is flying past with one thing after another. George is still going pretty well.

I took George out on Monday to have coffee with the Alzheimer's group but when we got there we found it wasn't on so we went and had coffee somewhere else. On Tuesday I had to go to Mum. George is still fine to be left at home alone which is great. I do have to be prepared to find a big mess when I get home. He doesn't mean to do it but he does get himself something to eat and leaves stuff everywhere. He also keeps getting things out from drawers and going through them. He never puts anything away.
He is also able to catch a bus to and from Brighton which I encourage. The doctor and I want him to retain as much independence as possible for as long as possible. He has let the girls at the bank know that he has Alzheimer's and so they help him when he wants money out.

Clothes

George has just got up. He came out with a pair of my jeans on - he could not get them up, let alone walk properly. I had to tell him to take them off.

Home again

Collected George from the rest home on Saturday. He was pleased to be coming home but had had some good experiences while there. He went on a trip out to Lincoln one day where they saw new homes going up. He sat at a table for meals with a group of guys about his age so he obviously made some friends there.

While I can't say he would have liked to stay longer he at least coped well which is good as I will need to get a rest in order to be able to keep him at home and as we have no family here to come and stay with him when I go away or need a rest getting a few days respite care in a home is great.

For this first time I was very careful in choosing the home, it is a rest home and does not have a dementia unit and at this point is all George needs. I wanted him to have a good experience so that he would feel OK about doing it again.

Respite care today

George goes to respite care today. Getting him ready has been very time consuming. He has packed and unpacked a lot but hopefully we will be right. I am working this morning and then going home to finish his packing and then taking him to the rest home. I really hope that he enjoys it.

Girls can do anything

I cleaned the razor and charged it and now it is going like a dream, thank God for that.

Wine

Found George drinking wine again yesterday. It is such a shame as he was doing well - nearly two weeks. I will need to keep an eye on this as his soiling at night had stopped and so it may start up again with this development.

At the end of last year George told me that his razor needed to be fixed. We took it to a shop who told us it could not be fixed. I bought him a new one which was not cheap but was the one he wanted. Today he told me it no longer worked (it is 4 months old). He had it plugged in upside down but when I put it in correctly that did not help. I pulled the top off and it was absolutely full of rubbish - George had never cleaned it. Not being a male I was unaware of it but certainly know now and also know that George is no longer capable of doing simple things like this. I need to check every little thing - this is one more thing in losing his independence. It does get very tiring. I am charging the razor at the moment as if I can't get it going I will need to get in somewhere tomorrow and hope to get it back by Thursday ready for the respite care....

Wall to wall moaning

I am putting George into a rest home next Thursday and he will stay there for a week for respite care. The Government pays for people like George to go to a rest home for periods so that the care giver is able to have some time out. I have been given 28 days a year for George. It is not as generous as it sounds as the day they go in and the day they come home are counted so for a week it works out at 10 days. He is going to  a nice rest home called Beckenham Courts. We went to have a look at it recently and he liked what he saw. He will have his own room with an ensuite. I am sure he will like it. At the moment I am trying to get things ready as I have to name everything that he takes in - this is actually quite a big job. George has also been getting together things he wants to take. This morning he started telling me he didn't think it was a good idea for him to go there. We then had a conversation about how he was going to enjoy it and it would be like a hotel. Then off I went to mum to be greeted by:

A tirade about how she was not going to forgive me for dumping her in there. I then gave her an ice cream which she loved. It was a cream freeze strawberry ice cream sundae. I also fed her up on all sorts of other things; truffles, chocolate fish, lamingtons etc. We then looked at all the pictures in a magazine and she was reasonably relaxed when I left over two hours later.

I have to say that I often lurch from one to the other.

Yesterday I spent two hours searching for my cameras; I knew that they were in a bag that I took in to mum but couldn't find them - thank god I suddenly remembered that I had taken in another bag one day. This is stress and trying to remember everything.

Social interaction

George loves going to the memory group which he did on Wednesday. He talked about it a lot when I got home. Since then he has asked (about a dozen times) if he has memory group tomorrow!! Next Wednesday is the last day for this course so he is going to miss it.

Yesterday he had the Evergreen group (which he is not so keen on) but I suggested to him that I would take him out for coffee and a bagel afterwards so that made him happier. When I picked him up he was not particularly happy about the day but was OK. Unfortunately he will not be going there for 6 weeks as he goes to Beckenham Courts on Thursday next week. He will stay there for a week to give me respite care. I hope that he enjoys it. After respite care I am unable to get him to the Evergreen club for 4 weeks as I will be teaching.

Tonight I am taking him round to see some of our friends so that will be nice. He does enjoy the social interaction of others.