You are not alone

12/08/2014

Today we tried a new routine with JW and I am glad to report that it went smoother than we anticipated.

Mother had to go for her yearly doctor exam and we had not idea how long we were going to be gone. Even though James is upstairs when we go out if it is going to be longer than an hour we do not like to leave JW alone.  We have three teenage boys that do all of the physical work around our home. James is disabled, Mother is 85 (slowing down a bit) and I work full time. We had Josh, that shaves JW once a week, come over and stay with JW.  It went very well. Not that he needs constant attention but if he did need something there has to be someone in the room with him. Usually he could care less who it is, just as long as there is a body there he's good. Mother and I rationalize that Josh had been over here 4 times and JW is good with him shaving him so he could sit and watch T.V. with him. To tell you the truth, I think they both napped while we were gone.

I worry a lot about him being alone. If he is napping and wakes up would he be frightened if it was one of his mixed up times. With Alzheimer with him all the time it is impossible to know what type of thought patterns he is having. We still think that as long as he is in his familiar chair and surroundings he is good.

There are days when he has no comprehension of how things work. Mother gives him all the junk mail to open just to keep him busy for a half hour. One day he could not figure out what an envelope was and could not understand what or how it was used. Mother has the patience of saint. She will explain things over and over to him and we are never sure if he has any further understanding or not. Some of the symptoms I have read about with Alzheimer's JW seems to be not a typical case. That does not surprise me at all.

JW prefers to eat sandwiches. He can pick a sandwich up and not have to cut anything or hold a fork. That is good for Mother. After making meals for 64 years I am sure that she runs short on ideas once in awhile. He likes to have a variety of snacks within his reach. Cookies, little cakes, candy or donuts. Of course Mother cuts everything up into bite size pieces. (I told you he is pampered) He has his favorite blankets and pillow. Mother has also convinced him to put the foot rest up on his chair. I think she does it so he can't get out of the chair and wander around.

When she puts him to bed at night she reads her devotions for around another hour. One night she was reading and here came JW down the hall looking for her.

One thing I know for sure, JW will never be alone.