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Category Archives: ElderCare

Starting Over
Okay, so more than a year has passed and I still have no clue how to answer the simple question “Now What?” After 10 years of eldercare and daily interaction with my parents through the veil of dementia and the infirmity of old age, I’ve lost all connection with the person that I was before […] Read more »


Taking A Walk
I decided to take a walk this morning, even though the weather was threatening.  I was thinking about dad. One of the last things that he could really take pleasure in was taking a walk through the neighborhood. I was remembering him as I walked our familiar route. On the walk, with the cold spring […] Read more »


Moving On
Dad died on November 12th, 2010.  The last five months have been a blur for me.  I can’t imagine that it is uncommon for caregivers to experience a period of “wandering”.  I’m 52 years old and have been entirely focused on caring for my parents for the last 10 years. Now what? I’m living in […] Read more »


Why Am I Alive?
I know my father.  The question is bait.  “Why don’t I just die?”  “What can I do?”  He doesn’t really ask the question out of any kind of search for an answer for himself. It isn’t an esoteric question about the meaning of life.  From my father, the question is mostly a way to start […] Read more »


A Roller Coaster
It took about ten days from the onset for Dad to get back to what has been normal for him.  The episodic nature of certain of his symptoms is very disconcerting since it is so difficult to figure out what if anything triggers the more extreme episodes which include hallucinations and severe delusions and disorientation […] Read more »


A New Trend
So it turns out that Sunday night’s aural hallucinations were just the beginning with my father.  He continued to be very confused during the day and by Sunday Night after dinner, he was convinced that we had eaten at a restaurant and that we were still there.  He was convinced that I was trying to […] Read more »


Bad Week
Some days are better than others.  Dad woke up out of deep sleep last night and started saying he heard a “noise”.  It was about 3 am.  “It sounds like steam! I’ve got to get up and find it!” “Dad, go back to sleep,” I said. “It’s just the furnace.”  That was a losing position.  […] Read more »


My Meds (Dad's Meds, con't.)
My father is not one of those old people who just want to sit in a rocker and sleep the day away until it’s time to go to bed.  I don’t have to coax him out of bed every morning at 11 or 10 or even 9. (Sigh) When I am an old man, I […] Read more »


Dad's Meds
Dad took a fall about a year ago that resulted in two broken hands, a broken nose and a chipped tooth. Up until that time, he wasn’t on any medication.  I would give him a little Valerian or Melatonin to sleep and vitamins in the morning with breakfast.  But after the fall, his problems really […] Read more »