‘Tis the Season to Be Jolly

Though times have been tough with Gramps as of late, he is still able to make us chuckle.

He currently has a nighttime caretaker, who makes sure he gets a good night sleep, then baths, dresses him and feeds him breakfast in the morning.

All the caretakers have been really nice and fun, and I think Gramps enjoys having the company.

Recently, his main caretaker, Ric, was getting Gramps dressed and singing Christmas carols as he did so. He asked Gramps,”What is your favorite song?”

Gramps replied “Oh How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning.”

Alzheimer’s Fact: People with Alzheimer’s disease who also have diabetes or high blood pressure are more likely to die sooner than people without such disorders.

A Little In the Fog

Things with Gramps haven’t been so funny lately.  As his Alzheimer’s progresses, it gets a little bit more difficult to smile through the stress of making decisions for his care, such as which doctors to go to, in house care or assisted living, etc.  However, once in a while, a little bit of the funny guy he once was shines through.  Such was the case yesterday.

I had to run an errand for a client, so I took Gramps with me.  It required driving through a city that is notoriously foggy, and yesterday was no exception. 

As always, Gramps was reading any lettering that we passed: street signs, store signs, the makes of cars on the trunks.  I’m not even sure how he could make out half the signs for the fog, since I could barely see where I was going. 

One particular sign on a brand new apartment building read “Million Dollar Views.”  Gramps read the sign, then looked toward the foggy view.  “Hmmph,” he said, “Not today!” 

Alzheimer’s Fact: The financial cost of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease can be overwhelming and is estimated to be about $50,000 per year in direct medical expenses.

The Exterminator

Gramps has been pretty un-entertaining lately.  Though don’t think he isn’t keeping us on his toes.  His Alzheimer’s is progressing, so most of the situations aren’t so funny anymore.  But just when my head starts to droop, leave it to Gramps to get me chuckling again! Yesterday as we were finishing lunch, a fly landed on Gramps’ empty plate.  Normally, he would just shoo the fly away but yesterday, he decided to take a more innovative approach to pest control.

He took his nearly full cup of coffee and poured it on his plate trying to douse the fly. 

When I screamed, “Gramps! You shouldn’t do that!”  he just looked at me with the mischievous smile of a two year-old, who knew he had done something wrong, but couldn’t figure out quite what.

To make matters worse, at that precise time, one of our clients walked into the restaurant and over to our table.  My heart sank as she glanced disapprovingly at Gramps’ plate.  She must have been wondering “How did his coffee get on his plate?”  I am sure “by means of extermination” was not a thought that crossed her mind.

Alzheimer’s Fact: In addition to Alzheimer’s medications, other medications may be prescribed to treat such symptoms as agitation, anxiety and poor sleep.

 

 

A Pupcicle

This weekend while I was away, my mom watched my dog.  Being that my mom lives with my grandfather, he got some puppy time too.

As always, I prepackaged Jackson’s food into individual servings to make it easier for my mom.  My mom had placed the food on top of the refrigerator for convenience, but when she came home one day to feed the dog, the food was no where in sight. 

After searching high and low, she finally opened the freezer and found the food in there.  Gramps must have been trying to do his part to keep Jackson cool during the hot summer days, and thought the food would be better slightly chilled. 

Alzheimer’s Fact: In addition to looking for a cure, researchers are focusing more and more on supporting the caregivers who spend upwards of 13 hours a day caring for loved ones.

Jackson

Luck Be an Alzheimer’s Patient

One of the things Gramps still enjoys doing is gambling.  In the past, his games have been poker and craps.  As of late, he has been sticking to Paigow and the slot machines, which are a little bit easier for him to understand these days.

A couple days ago, my mom took Gramps to an Indian casino and set him in front of a slot machine.  She had him betting the minimum credits to draw out the game.  However, on one particular pull, Gramps bet the maximum number of credits without understanding what he was doing.  And wouldn’t you know it on that particular pull, he HIT THE JACKPOT!  It was only a penny machine, so he got himself 3,000 shiny new pennies, but what luck.

This luck might be explained by Gramps rather unique method of consuming fortune cookies.  

Instead of reading what his fortune holds, lately, he has been forgetting that there is, in fact, a fortune in fortune cookies, so he consumes the cookie whole…fortune and all!  Perhaps this is an ancient Chinese secret that they forget to give you with the bill for your chow mein: To make your fortune come true, eat it!

Alzheimer’s Fact: The FDA has approved five drugs to be used in Alzheimer’s treatment: memantine (Namenda), tacrine (Cognex), donepezil (Aricept), rivastigmine (Exelon), galantamine (Reminyl).  About half of the people taking these medicaitons show modest and temporary improvement in memory and thinking skills.

Note: Gramps takes Aricept. 

Thief II: Caught in the Act!

I received an email from my mom yesterday, entitled “Thief!”  Thinking she had seen my post of the same name, I figured she was just commenting on the post.

However, much to my chagrin, she was providing more information on Gramps’ newfound illicit lifestyle.

In the last couple weeks, Gramps has been pulling half dollars out of his pockets.  My mother couldn’t figure out where he was finding him, but since he has quite an extensive coin collection, she figured he had a secret stash some where and didn’t think much of it.

However, my mom came home yesterday afternoon to find Gramps digging through a jar of coins in HER closet and removing all the half dollars and putting them in his pocket. 

Alzheimer’s Fact: Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease which advances in stages from mild forgetfulness and cognitive impairment to wide spread loss of mental abilities and total dependence on a caregiver.

Thief!

When I picked up Gramps for work yesterday morning, the housekeeper was at his house slaving away. 

My mom always leaves the housekeeper’s pay on the kitchen table in the morning before leaving for work.  So when the housekeeper called her that afternoon saying the money wasn’t there, my mom fingered the culprit right away–Gramps.

My mom called and said “Will you see if Gramps has a hundred dollar bill in his wallet?”

So I asked him.

“Yep,” he said. 

“Gramps that wasn’t your money,” I said. “That was for the cleaning lady.” 

“I know,” he said. “But we shouldn’t be paying her that much.  I’ll clean the house.”  Evidently the fact that the housekeeper was already hard at work earning her pay when he made this decision escaped him.

Anyway, I told Gramps that he had to give the money back to my mom that night.  He agreed.

At lunch time, Gramps tried to buy me lunch with the $100 bill.  “That’s not yours,” I explained to him. 

“I know,” he said.  Evidently the fact that he shouldn’t be spending money he knew wasn’t his, escaped him as well.

At home that night, my mom asked Gramps for the $100.  He in turn gave her a one-dollar bill. 

Sometimes I wonder if this Alzheimer’s thing is real, or if Gramps just found a way to make a quick buck.

Alzheimer’s Fact: Communicating with Alzheimer’s Patients–Simplify each task into single steps. Use simple words and short sentences to convey your message. Do not overwhelm the person with a string of instructions. If a person has difficulty hearing, lower the pitch of your voice rather than increasing the volume.

Not Those Damn Teeth Again

Gramps went to the dentist again yesterday.  And I’m just resigning myself to the fact that dentist = adventure.

In spite of his morning protests claiming nothing is wrong with his teeth and he doesn’t have to go to the dentist, I was able to get him to go to the dentist by explaining that he was going to have his teeth cleaned, and that this was to prevent any problems in the future. 

When Gramps got back from the dentist, he was very proud of his pearly whites and smiled to show me.  “Nice,” I said. 

Obviously Gramps was looking for a more enthusiastic response from me, and proceeded to take out his teeth to show me how clean they were. 

“See, see?”  he kept saying. 

Not wanting to see the teeth, I kept my head down and focused on my work.  Gramps was persistent though, and every couple minutes would take his teeth back out.  “See?” 

Finally I had enough.  “Gramps, you need to keep your teeth in your mouth.” 

“Just look,” he said.  “Can you take YOUR teeth out?” he asked, as if this was some miraculous super-human trick he had perfected. 

“No, Gramps.  And you should keep your teeth in your mouth.  They are disgusting.”  At this point I hear giggles coming from the offices of our tenants, who until this time had been able to keep quiet during our dialogue. 

Alzheimer’s Fact: Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most emotionally draining and traumatic diseases for patients and families alike. The progressive, degenerative nature of Alzheimer’s disease presents unique challenges for health care proxies.

 

Over Dressed for Breakfast

This post comes with reporting for my mom. 

First off, my mom thought she would be nice and make Gramps eggs benedict for breakfast. 

As she started, he instructed her that she was doing it all wrong. 

He then went to the cupboard and pulled out a box of Cheerios.  “See?” he said. 

Then as he was eating his gourmet breakfast (the eggs benedict, not the Cheerios), he noticed his pants were rather poofy, and commented that he couldn’t find his belt. 

My mom went to investigate his clothing and found that he was wearing TWO pairs of pants.  And the reason he couldn’t find his belt, was that he was wearing it on the first pair, which was underneath the second pair! 

Alzheimer’s Fact: High cholesterol and diets high in saturated fats increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, while diets high in antioxidants decrease the risk.

How Old is “Old”?

Recently, my mother tried to enroll Gramps in an Alzheimer’s Day Care program at the local hospital. 

His first session went really well, and he was completely impressed by the blind woman who was able to play the piano. 

The next session was a little less eventful, and I could tell he was losing interest fast. 

So, in an effort to keep him excited about the program, I would try to talk it up whenever possible. 

So one day I was driving him to work and I said, “So you are going to go that program tomorrow?” 

He said “Nah, I don’t want to go.”

I asked “Why?”

“Too many OLD people there,” he replied.

Gramps is 94 years-old.