BYC Café

[cheepteach]

Good morning, Cafe', and thanks DL. I'll be away until Monday night. It will be Maggie's first experience in a boarding kennel. I've found what appears to be a good one with a very empathetic owner.

have a great time, and I'm sure the kennel you chose was carefully selected

 

[Mtn Margie]

Good morning and thanks for the coffee!
Have a wonderful trip, Sour! Have a phenomenal day, Cafe!

 

[microchick]

Morning Everyone. First cup of coffee in front of me, I am awake enough to see the keyboard so I'm good to go.

@sourland, have fun at the wedding and try not to worry about your furbaby.

@Bruceha2020 that is precisely the problem. For the 'average' woman my age probably the side effects from Prolia would be easier to manage and maybe not as annoying. But as you know, there is nothing average about me. Between taking care of my chickens, there is always something to be done around our 29 acre hobby farm. Then there is the wood harvesting project that DH and I do every year. Some of the wood we work with is at least 200 pounds in weight so I need energy and muscle strength and yes, Prolia affects that along with it weakening my immune system.

@DobieLover you have done a marvelous job thinking ahead and making things safe for your husband. The only thing you didn't mention that I can think of to add to that list is to add safety alarms to your doors and yes windows for when he starts wandering and sundowning (is he sundowning yet?) and remove the knobs from your stove when you aren't using it. Learned the latter one the hard way when I came home from work one night and discovered that my dad, who was transitioning downward from a what was a long lasting plateau, tried to make himself a cup of instant coffee and forgot about the stove being on. It is a wonder that the house wasn't burned down is all I can say.

It wasn't long after that that I was faced with the decision to put him into the nursing home where I was working. It was unsafe to leave him alone at that point and I didn't have a lot of support from my brother when it came to his willingness to stay with him while I worked...and I had to work.

Alzheimers and associated dementias not only rob the victim they rob the family also in so many ways.

For what it is worth, IMHO you have and are making the right decisions for you and your dear husband.

Have a great morning everyone.

 

[DobieLover]

I can think of to add to that list is to add safety alarms to your doors and yes windows for when he starts wandering and sundowning (is he sundowning yet?)

We're not there yet. He has people with him when I'm at work because he "went for a walk" down the hill one day, got lost and wandered into the pits of hell, AKA - my mother and older sister's home.
He has zero signs of sundowning. He's still a happy guy. I work hard to keep him that way. Constant reassurance, I tell him all the time that I love him and he's doing great (even if he isn't) just to keep him from worrying that he's causing me stress. I like to play happy energetic music and dance around like a goof ball and sing. He laughs at that.
I fully intend to install alarms on the bedroom door for when he ultimately gets moved into the spare room so I know if he get's up. Just something that will go off in my room so as not to frighten him.

and remove the knobs from your stove when you aren't using it

Again, he is under near constant supervision BUT, I will do that when he gets to the point I see him messing with anything related to the stove.

 

[microchick]

I just thought of something else. When you have to move him to his own room, install a baby monitor.

I did that when my mom was bedfast and dying and it helped me a lot. I could hear every cough, every movement (or no movement which was an call to action) and since her voice was weak, every sound she made if she needed me.

If you have an Alzheimer's support group in your area and can work it into your schedule, I highly recommend becoming involved with it. I did when I had my dad home with me and it was so much of a relief to find kindred spirits who knew what I was going through because they were going through it also.

 

[DobieLover]

If you have an Alzheimer's support group in your area and can work it into your schedule, I highly recommend becoming involved with it. I did when I had my dad home with me and it was so much of a relief to find kindred spirits who knew what I was going through because they were going through it also.

That is rather impossible for me. I am working like a mad woman just trying to finish renovating our house. I won't get it done until next year.
I got derailed when my dad died 4.5 years ago and when I finally recovered enough to start working on houses again, I got tied up working on 2 houses for my insanely ungrateful and unworthy mother.
By the time I would have time to attend support groups, he'll be in a nursing home.
Right now, my co-workers and the Cafe are my sounding boards. And it works for me.

 

[microchick]

That is rather impossible for me. I am working like a mad woman just trying to finish renovating our house. I won't get it done until next year.
I got derailed when my dad died 4.5 years ago and when I finally recovered enough to start working on houses again, I got tied up working on 2 houses for my insanely ungrateful and unworthy mother.
By the time I would have time to attend support groups, he'll be in a nursing home.
Right now, my co-workers and the Cafe are my sounding boards. And it works for me.

I completely understand.

Remember to take care of the caregiver and if you need another shoulder that has been there and done that, both professionally and personally you can either tag me or PM me.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning Cafe all this Prolia I said no .. I have Osteoarthritis and plain old fashioned arthritis...
I have days I cry getting out of bed .. Thank the lord bones have held no breaks .
I want life not meds

 

[room onthebroom]

@DobieLover & @microchick A question about moving an Alzheimer’s patient into another room. Doesn’t changing the persons environment confuse & scare them? Would it be realistic to keep the one with Alzheimer’s in their old, familiar room & have the one one without move into a different room?

My MIL is going through this. She unfortunately isn’t local, but I’m still trying to learn all I can about the illness & how to manage it. I hate that you guys are going through this, but I appreciate the insight you’re giving us.

 

[microchick]

@DobieLover & @microchick A question about moving an Alzheimer’s patient into another room. Doesn’t changing the persons environment confuse & scare them? Would it be to keep the one with Alzheimer’s in their old, familiar room & have the one one without move into a different room?

My MIL is going through this. She unfortunately isn’t local, but I’m still trying to learn all I can about the illness & how to manage it. I hate that you guys are going through this, but I appreciate the insight you’re giving us.

I'm not certain as to whether or not moving the patient into another room in the home that they are familiar with is as traumatizing as moving them to an entirely different home or facility.

In the person's home it would be possible for that person to 'visit' the room. Get used to his or her surroundings. Maybe go there to take a nap, sit, watch TV, etc so that when the big move occurs it isn't as unfamiliar to them.

Also there are 'trick's that you can do to keep them where you want them. People with Alzheimer's disease lose their depth perception. You can lay a black towel or rug in front of their door and they will not step on it because to them, it looks like a 'chasm' they might fall down into.

The main problem with moving them is an uptick in sundowning where they become restless and wander more at night. We noticed them also being more restless when the moon was full.

One of my favorite stories from my experiences working with them was the night one of our Alzheimer patients 'disappeared' right at shift change. We went into panic mode. It was night, it was winter. We locked the place down (almost 200 beds so it was a big facility) and started protocol searching. An hour later, still no sign of the patient. We knew they were inside somewhere as no door alarms had not sounded and they had been sighted shortly before coming up missing.

I was walking through the dining area and on an impulse, checked the doors to the kitchen. One, the door that they kept unlocked so the aids could access a snack refrigerator that they had for the residents, was indeed unlocked. I opened the door and there set the resident in their little geri-walker a contraption made of 1 1/2 inch and 2 inch PVC pipe with a built in seat and wheels that allows an Alzheimer's patient to walk around, sit, socialize with virtually 0 fall risk (although I did once see two 'crash' into one another and tip over)

I went in and called the resident by name and asked them what the devil were they doing sitting in the kitchen? This little old person, very funny, very sweet, completely lost in their own mind because of this horrible disease looked up and me, smiled and said 'Waiting for you to find me!' All I could do was laugh and hug them.

I enjoyed working with Alzheimers patients. The disease is so much harder on the family and loved ones than it is on the person who is suffering from the disease. The family sees what is happening to their loved one, the loss of memory....self....identity while the victim is trapped in their own reality and mind. Family members would ask me how their mom was and I would say, Oh, she's having a great day today in 'Sallyland'. Because that is what they are doing. Living in their own little world that has locked out everyone and everything that they once upon a time loved and remembered.

We worry so much about Covid and other illnesses right now and Alzheimer's disease is the one we should all fear the most.