Enjoying a glass in the new sunroom
It is hard to say what the future really holds, but we have started to put some things into place. We added on an extension to our house, where my husband can be on one level and doesn't have to contend with stairs, although, I still take him upstairs for his meals as I want to at least add some diversity to his days. The new extension consists of a living room with a sun deck, where he can enjoy the morning sun which looks onto the sea and mountain. He has always loved music and so we play his CD's for him. I have heard that music is especially therapeutic for people with Dementia. About 6 months ago he started telling us that all his CD's were missing and broken, but what he was doing was taking them out of their cases and throwing all the cases down. So, what I decided to do, was to buy him a CD album, which stores about 100 CD's and he can still manage to flip through it and choose a CD. We have also installed railings on the stairs and this is a tremendous help as his balance has become really bad. He used to take our dog Lucy for a short walk each day but now he is starting to get lost and so my special needs son goes with him. Very important for him to at least get his legs moving and blood flowing. It was such a struggle to get him into the car and put his seat belt on, so now we put him into the back seat of the car, which is much easier. He was always a man that took showers and now we have discovered that bathing him in the tub is the way to go. I put a natural bubble bath into the water as he has difficulty finding the soap. At least the bubbles give him an overall clean.. he needs help with teeth brushing and I have started to put a mouthwash into a spray bottle and after brushing his teeth for him, I spray the mouthwash into his mouth. Shaving was quite a mission too, until I found this little mini shaver, which works like a charm. Luckily our bathtub has a shower head, which makes it easy to wash his hair. I have also moved him into his own room as he snores badly and as his carer, I need to get some decent sleep!
I take him to the grocery store once a week and I park the trolley and tell him to stand next to it and wait for me as I scurry around and do the shopping. It is a bit overwhelming for him, but at least he gets to see some of the outside world. Meals are a bit of a challenge but he still manages to feed himself with some assistance and cutting up his food for him helps. So, each day we seem to find a new way to cope and make things a little easier for him and us.
Enjoying a glass in the new sunroom
