Wednesday, April 25

We have friends in the neighborhood who just sold their house and are moving.  I am feeling said.  She has been such a great friend.   Some of the ladies are going to get together next Wednesday and spend some time together, have lunch, etc.

I did not sleep well last night.  I had the strangest dream.  There was this tiny little spider that found his way through the door.  I put him out.  He grew bigger and just slid right back in.  This went on over and over and each time the spider was bigger and more menacing looking.  I am not bothered by spiders.  It seems maybe it was some kind of metaphor about the situation and how it is going to get bigger and more difficult as time goes on.  Only thing I can think of.  Actually I have had more weird dreams than normal of late. 

A friend gave me a book to read the other day about dementia.  It has some questionaires in it that are designed to tell you if you are doing the right things and if you are coping, etc.  I scored well on the coping test.  Guess my stress level is not too bad.

On the other test about how I was handling some things I learned I may be doing some things wrong.  For instance, it says not to try to correct your loved one about the date, an event or where they are at the moment but to enter their thoughts and go with it.  Another thing was not to tease them.  I may be misinterpreting that but I do tease Cowboy and he grins.  Maybe it is just talking about teasing them about something they are feeling.  I don't do that.

One thing that really works with Cowboy is just to act really happy or silly or be real affectionate and he just warms right up.  One day I danced around the room to some tune on the TV and he really liked that.

I had my day out today.  I went and bought some underpants to replace some our dog had chewed up. (you don't want to know).   I went and had a pedicure.  I went to the store.

 and then I went and visited another long term facility.  This was the nicest one yet but it is very expensive.    One interesting thing about all of this is that every one is different with different approaches to care.  For instance, the last one I visited each patient had their own bathroom.  In the one today the bathrooms are communal.  The reasoning is that bathrooms are dangerous and they want to always be with the patient when they are in one.