Updated on May 11th 2012 my updates are in bold below
I created this BLOG in hopes that my journey with my mother and her Alzheimer’s can help others. I list my daily posts below. I wanted to explain a little about my mother Alzheimer’s. She has helped me all my life with my journey of cerebral palsy. My website that talks about my cerebral palsy and my climbing adventures is at www.timsashwood.com if you want to check it out. She is 90 years old and has had Alzheimer’s for at least 15 years now. I first noticed her memory problems back in the fall of 1997. She was able to keep driving and handling her check book until the winter of 2003/2004. She could still go on 2 mile hikes with me into 2005 and ½ mile walks thru 2008, now she mostly can only walk a few yards before her hip starts to hurt her. I moved back into her home in 2005 to help her stay in her house although I have kept my own place thru March 2011. One of the things I feel that has helped her go 15 years and still going is I’ve had people (mostly me) around her quit a bit. This helped her stay engaged with people. In 2003 she averaged people with her @90hrs/wk out of 168 hrs in a week, in 2004/2005/2006 @110hrs/wk, 2007 @125hrs/wk, 2008 @135hrs/wk. Then starting in January 2009 she has had someone with her 24/7. I started using care givers in 2005 to help and to give mom other women to talk to and get use to. Right now she can still dress and undress herself but is starting to struggle with it and needs to be told what to do most of the time. In December 2009 she started to refuse to wash herself now one of the care givers I use sponge bathes her 3 times a week. Right now mentally she is like a 3 or 4 year old girl with just a few seconds of memory. She has started to get confused with the getting undressed and dressed part but can still do it herself. She has also sometimes thought the person she sees in the bathroom mirror is someone else this started in 2010. I started using a diaper pad on mom’s bed in July 2011. In the fall of 2011 we increased the dosage on mom’s Galantamine. In March of 2012 I stopped giving her the supplements it has started to get harder to get her to take the pills. So I started just giving her a one a day vitamin instead. Then in May 2012 we have started to crush mom’s pills and put them in applesauce about 3 or 4 days a week. She loves applesauce. She can still walk on her own with no help. Here is a list of the drugs she takes for her Alzheimer’s.
•Razadyne started in 2000 then in 2011 changed to generic Galantamine
•Namenda started March 2005
Saturday August 31st 2013
I spent the day and early evening with mom at the hospital. She spent most of the day sleeping. I was happy to see that mom’s muscle spasms
had stopped when I got to her room. When
they tried to get mom to walk at all they had to help and took 2 of them to get
mom from the bed to the sink in the room about 3 feet. Mom was very weak but they kept saying the
test results did not show anything. If I
wasn’t there when the doctor finally stop by he would have released her. I had to push the issue she had something
wrong that they were missing. So he said
they would keep her one more day. I got
home around 8pm and was in bed by 10pm to try and get some sleep.
Friday August 30th 2013
Took mom in to the ER for tests and they kept her
overnight. Spent most of the day in the
ER then came home and went to bed early.
Thursday August 29th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents today or
overnight. Both Adrienne and Andrea were
here when I left for work to celebrate my birthday. One of the people in my office bought my
lunch and I was so busy the day went by fast.
When I got home I found out that mom wasn’t drinking or eating much all
day. I gave her drinks a little bit at a
time and did get some down her. Mom also
started with some muscles and whole body jerking around some. We watched TV but mom was napping a lot. Mom was also started moving really slow. Adrienne did not show up so it was just mom
and I all night.
Wednesday August 28th 2013
Mom did have a bladder accident this morning around 5am as
she was on her way to the bathroom. Jaki
did a pretty good job her first night and time with mom. I was able to get some sleep last night. Andrea was hear and Jaki was leaving when I
left. Andrea left note that her word of
the day for mom was child like. I ran
into a very heavy traffic night on my way home some water main broke and they
had the 3 lanes on I-70 going down to 1 lane so I had about 1 ½ hour commute so
I had Patti start feeding mom dinner. I
then ate when I got home as mom was finishing her drink. We then watched NBC show “Americas Got
Talent” with mom napping some.
Tuesday August 27th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents today or
overnight. Mom was sleeping when I left
for work and Adrienne was still here. Andrea
left note that her word of the day for mom was chipper. Patti said mom was good. Patti was taking mom to the dining room when
I got home at 5:30pm so we ate dinner right away and the last time mom ate
anything was 6:30pm. We spent the
evening watching shows “So you think you can dance” and “Americas Got
Talent”. Adrienne called in and couldn’t
make it so I called the new girl Jaki and she will start tonight. So I’m glad Adrienne mentioned Jaki. Since
this is Jaki’s first night I changed mom myself.
Monday August 26th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents today or
overnight. Mom was sleeping when I left
for work and Adrienne was still here.
Andrea left note that her word of the day for mom was charming. I hired another women today to help with mom.
She has about 10 years of experience and is a friend of Adrienne. Mom was sitting at the dining table when I
got home so we ate dinner and the last time mom ate was 6:30pm. We spent the evening watching NBC shows
“America Ninja Warrior” and “Get Out
Alive”. Mom was awake most of the
evening enjoying herself.
Sunday August 25th 2013
Mom did have a bowel accident around noontime while sitting
at the dining table. She was doing a lot
of bowel movements also once I got her in the bathroom. I kept going into the bathroom every few
minutes and mom kept cutting farts so I figured she wasn’t done yet. We took a drive after she was done. It was a sunny day with temps in the
90’s. We drove along the river road to
Grafton IL then past Sioux Passage Park on the way back. We saw several boats more near Grafton even a
few sailboats. The sailboats bring back
great memories. Also several motorcycles
and a few people on the hike/bike trail. Mom was fairly talkative and alert for
her on the drive. We had dinner after we
got back and a bathroom break. So the
last time mom ate was 6pm and we spent the evening watching TV and laughing as
well as us both napped some.
Saturday August 24th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents today or
overnight. We got up for the day at 10am. After a bathroom trip we ate breakfast then
bathroom before our drive. It was a
sunny hot day with temps around 90. We
took a drive along the river road to Grafton IL. We saw several boats and even a sailboat on
the river. Also several people on the
hike/bike trail and motorcycles. Mom was
more talkative and alert on this drive.
After the drive and a bathroom trip mom had lunch then nap time until
dinner. We both feel asleep so had a
late dinner and mom last ate at 7:30pm.
We spent the evening watching TV laughing with mom napping some.
Friday August 23rd 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents today or
overnight. Mom was sleeping when I left
for work and Adrienne was still here.
Andrea left note that her word of the day for mom was civil. Mom was in
the bathroom when I got home at 5:30pm and we ate dinner when she got out. So the last time mom ate was 7pm. We spent the evening watching TV and
laughing. Mom also napped a lot this
evening.
Thursday August 22nd 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents today or
overnight. Mom was sleeping when I left
for work and Adrienne was still here.
Andrea left note that her word of the day for mom was centered and Patti
said hers was corporative. Mom was
watching TV when I got home at 5pm and we ate dinner shortly after that. So the last time mom ate was 6pm. We watched NOVA type specials tonight
mostly. Mom also napped some. While mom napped I read some in the bible and
turned the TV off.
Wednesday August 21st 2013
Mom did have 2 bladder accidents today. One was this morning before I left and one
this evening around 9pm I waited too long.
Mom was sleeping when I left for work and Adrienne was here since I left
early. Andrea left note that her word of
the day for mom was chummy. Mom was
sitting at the table when I got home at 5:30pm so we ate dinner right
away. So the last time mom ate was
6pm. We watched TV and mom didn’t nap
much this evening and Adrienne got here by 10pm.
Tuesday August 20th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents today or
overnight. Mom was sleeping when I left
for work and Adrienne was here since I left early. Andrea left note that her word of the day for
mom was cheery. Mom was sitting at the
dining table when I got home so we ate dinner right away and the last time mom
ate was 6:30pm. We then spent the
evening watching the NBC show “Americas Got Talent”.
Monday August 19th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents today or
overnight. Mom was sleeping when I left
for work and Andrea was here and Adrienne was leaving because today I left at
7am. Andrea left note that her word of
the day for mom was clever and Patti said mom was extremely quiet this
afternoon. Mom was sitting at the
dinning table when I got home so we ate dinner right away at 5:30pm. So the last time mom ate was 7pm by the time
she finished her soda. We spent the
evening watching TV with mom napping some. Adrienne got here at 10pm and I then went to
bed.
Sunday August 18th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents today or
overnight. Mom was sleeping when Patti
got here and I left for church. It was a
great service today and like normal I met up with friends afterwards for
brunch. Mom was eating lunch when I got
home so when she finished and went to the bathroom we took a drive. It was a partly sunny day with temps in the
80’s still cooler than normal for this time of year. We drove along the river road to Grafton
IL. Today we saw several boats on the
river more than yesterday. Also several
people were getting out on the hike/bike trail enjoying this August day. To my surprise we saw fewer motorcycles on
the river road this afternoon. Mom was
fairly quiet on the drive which over the past few weeks is starting to be her
new normal. I think though on some level
she still enjoys getting out of the house and going on drives. After we had gotten back and another bathroom
trip it was time for dinner. So the last
time mom ate was 6pm. We spent the
evening watching TV and laughing but mom did nap some and I turned the TV off
to do some reading in my bible and write this up. Adrienne was here tonight but was 40 minutes
late at least I did get some sleep.
Saturday August 17th 2013
Mom did have a bladder accident tonight around 10pm I did
not get her to bathroom in time. We got
up for the day around 10am but got up a few times to take mom to bathroom
overnight. We then had breakfast when
mom got out of the bathroom. Then after
breakfast and a bathroom trip we took our Saturday drive. It was a sunny day with temps around 80. We drove along the river road to Grafton IL. We saw several boats and one sailboat but not
as many as last weekend. There were
several people out on the hike/bike trail and tons of motorcycles. Mom was fairly quiet and even slept on most
of the drive. We both napped after we
got back until dinner time. The last
time mom ate was 6:30pm and then we watched TV with mom napping some.
Friday August 16th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Andrea got here at 5:30am so I
left shortly after she got her. Andrea
left word that her word of the day for mom was cute. Patti just said mom was quiet. Mom was in the bathroom when I got home and
we ate dinner when she got out. So the
last time mom ate was 6:30pm. We spent
the evening watching TV but mostly we both napped. Mom went to bed at 1:30am.
Thursday August 15th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Andrea got here at 6am so I left
shortly after she got her. Andrea left
word that her word of the day for mom was centered. Mom was in the bathroom when I got home then
we had dinner. So the last time mom ate
was 6:30pm. We spent the evening
watching TV and laughing. We talked to
my brother Larry tonight over SKYPE.
Adrienne called in sick again tonight.
Wednesday August 14th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Mom was sleeping when I went to
work and Adrienne was here. Andrea left
note her word of the day for mom was care free.
I got a great night’s sleep last night I left the windows open with
temps of 60’s overnight. Mom was in the
bathroom when I got home and the pastor came over around 5:30pm and was here
for about 1 hour visiting. We had dinner
after that so the last time mom ate was 7:30pm.
We then spent the evening watching mostly the NBC show “Americas Got
Talent” with mom napping most of the evening.
Adrienne called in sick so I didn’t get much sleep getting mom up all
night long.
Tuesday August 13th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Mom was sleeping when I went to
work and Adrienne was here. Andrea left
note her word of the day for mom was capricious and Patti said mom was
fine. Mom was just getting ready to eat
dinner when I got home so the last time she ate was 6:30pm. We watched TV and laughed with mom napping the
first part of the evening.
Monday August 12th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Mom was sleeping when I left for
work today. Adrienne was here when I
left and Andrea was here when I got home.
Andrea said her word of the day for mom was cherubic. Mom was just sitting down for dinner when I
got home at 5:30 so the last time mom ate was 6:30pm. We spent the evening watching TV and laughing
with mom napping the first part of the evening until I woke her to go to the
bathroom.
Sunday August 11th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Mom was sleeping when I left for
church. It was a good service and then
had brunch with friends at church like normal.
Patti said mom was corporative but quiet today. Mom was eating lunch
when I got home and when she finished and went to the bathroom we went for a
drive. We first talked to my brother Paul this afternoon as mom was finishing
her lunch. It was a sunny day with temps in the 80’s. We drove along the river road to Grafton then
to Sioux Passage Park on the way back.
Again today we saw several boats on the river and people on the
hike/bike trail. Also we saw a whole
bunch of motorcycles along the river road.
Mom was fairly alert and responsive during the drive and did not nap at
all. We had dinner when we got back so
the last time mom ate was 6:30pm. We
spent the evening watching TV with mom napping a lot. I ended up turning the TV off and read my
bible some while mom napped.
Saturday August 10th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. We got up for the day at 7:30am
and after mom got out of the bathroom we had breakfast but I did put her back
into the bathroom before she finished her hot chocolate because I was getting
signs from her that she needed to go back to the bathroom and I was
correct. Then she finished the
drink. Mom was cheerful and fairly
chatty for her during breakfast. Then
after mom finished breakfast and went for a bathroom break we took a
drive. It was a sunny beautiful day with
temps in the mid 80’s. We drove along
the river road to Grafton IL then going to Sioux Passage Park on the way back. We saw a lot of boats people on the hike/bike
trail and motorcycles. Everybody it
seems like was getting out enjoying this great August day thank you god. Mom was alert and responsive the first part
of the drive then napped a little towards the end. We were gone long enough that it was time for
mom to take a bathroom break then we ate lunch.
Then we sat around in the dining room watching the birds eat and mom
played with her cards. She likes reading
them over and over. After doing that for
a while mom went to the bathroom then we had dinner. So the last time mom ate was 6pm. We spent the evening watching TV and laughing
when I acted silly with mom also napping some but was awake most of the evening
engaged in watching TV. Mom went to bed
at 2am.
Friday August 9th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Andrea got here this morning at
6am and I took off for work shortly after that.
Andrea left note that her word of the day for mom was chatty. Mom was in the bathroom when I got home at
5pm and we had dinner when she got out.
So the last time mom ate was 6:30pm and I put her in bed at
12:30am. We spent the evening watching
TV and laughing but we both napped some.
Thursday August 8th 2013
Mom did have a bladder accident overnight around 3am while
Adrienne was here. I left for work before
Andrea got here this morning. Adrienne
said mom was fine overnight and Andrea left note her word of the day for mom
was callipygian she was being funny which means mom must have been. Patti said mom was more alert today while she
was here. Mom had just gotten out of the
bathroom when I got home so we ate dinner right away. So the last time mom ate was 6pm. Adrienne sent me a text to me she was sick
and could not come over tonight so it will be just mom and I tonight. We watched TV and laughed this evening. Mom has been awake most of the evening.
Wednesday August 7th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Mom was sleeping when I left for
work this morning. I even left before
Andrea got here. Adrienne said mom was
fine last night. Andrea left word that
her word of the day for mom was companionable and Patti said mom was
quiet. Mom was in the bathroom when I
got home and we ate dinner when she got out.
So the last time mom ate was 6pm.
We watched the NBC show “Americas Got Talent” and laughed some when I
act silly. Mom napped less tonight and
was in great spirits.
Tuesday August 6th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Mom was sleeping when I left for
work this morning. Adrienne was still here when I left and said mom was nice
last night and went to bed around 11pm.
Andrea left note that her word of the day for mom was cross but Patti
said mom was fine. Mom was sitting in
the dining room when I got home at 5:30pm and we ate right away so the last
time mom ate was 6pm. Mom was happy to
see me and was rather lovey when we ate dinner.
We spent the evening watching TV with mom napping some. We watched the NBC show “Americas Got Talent”
and Joel Osteen on the Daystar channel.
Monday August 5th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Mom was sleeping when I left for
work this morning. Adrienne had left before me and Andrea was here. Andrea left note that her word of the day for
mom was capital and Patti said mom was fine and quiet. Mom was in the bathroom when I got home by
5:30pm and we ate dinner when she got out.
So the last time mom ate was a little, after 6pm. We spent the evening mostly watching the NBC
shows “American Ninja Warrior” and “Get out Alive”. Mom napped some as well. Adrienne got here last night around 11pm and
I went to bed after she got here last night.
Sunday August 4th 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Mom was in the bathroom when I
left for church today Patti had just got mom up before I left. I enjoyed both the worship and message part
of the service today. It was one of the
better messages. Patti said mom was
quiet but nice today and mom was eating lunch when I got home from church. It was a partly sunny day with temps in the
80’s. So after mom finished her lunch
and went to the bathroom we took our Sunday drive. We drove along the river road partway to
Grafton IL then past Sioux Passage Park.
We saw several boats even one sailboat on the river. We also saw a lot of people on the hike/bike
trail. Mom napped most of the drive
along the river but was awake the last part of the drive. I had mom go to the bathroom when we got home
then shortly after that we had an early dinner.
So the last time mom ate was 5:30pm.
We spent the evening watching TV and laughing with mom again napping a
lot of the evening. So I spent some time reading the bible this evening. I’m following a program of reading the bible
in a year by reading a few chapters a night.
Saturday August 3rd 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. We got up for the day around
8:30am. Mom went to the bathroom first
then we ate breakfast and I crushed moms pills into applesauce. Then after another bathroom trip we took our
drive. It was a partly sunny day with
temps in the 80’s. We drove along the
river road to Grafton IL. We saw some
boats on the river but not a whole lot of them.
We did see several people on the hike/bike trail. Mom napped some on the drive and was
quiet. Mom has been getting quieter on
the drives lately. After a bathroom trip
when we got back we had lunch. Mom does
take a long time finishing her drinks at meal times. Then mom went to the bathroom and we both
napped some before dinner. So the last
time mom ate was 7pm. We spent the
evening watching TV and laughing with mom napping a lot. Mom has been sleepy today.
Friday August 2nd 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Mom was sleeping when I
left. I left while Adrienne was still
here and she said mom was great overnight.
Andrea left note that her word of the day for mom was caduceus and Patti
just said mom was good. This was the end
of another week of work my first month back is behind me.. Mom was watching TV when I got home around
5:30pm. I had mom go to the bathroom
then we ate so the last time mom ate anything was 7pm. We spent the evening watching TV and laughing
with both of us napping some.
Thursday August 1st 2013
Mom did not have any bladder or bowel accidents overnight or
today. Mom was sleeping when I left for
work. Adrienne said mom was giggly when
she was getting mom up overnight. I left
way before Andrea got here Adrienne was here but Andrea left note her word of
the day for mom was cuddly. Mom was in
the bathroom when I got home at 5:30 so we ate dinner when she got out. So the last time mom ate was 7pm. We spent the evening mostly watching specials
on the weather channel with mom napping some.
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