Tonight's picture was taken in September of 2008. Mattie was in treatment for two months by that point. Peter's clients from Canada sent Mattie this wonderful hat and ice hockey shirt. Mattie decided to put both on and of course that merited a photo! Mattie's support community was far and wide and each and every person who sent us a message and/or a gift will always be remembered and appreciated. It took a lot of support to manage through each day and reading messages and opening gifts were positive diversions for all of us. As this took our minds off of cancer for a snippet of time.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- number of people diagnosed with the virus: 5,666,121
- number of people who died from the virus: 176,340
Up at 6:15am, caregiver arrived at 8am. Instructed her in the new technique to clean and bandage my dad's pressure sore on his back. Until this sore completely heals, my dad will get a nurse and wound care physician visit weekly. Sounds good, but at some point, managing all these people who come in and out of the house is very tiring. Extra tiring when it also means managing the horrific gate onto the property. I spend more time running around making sure people are getting in and off the property appropriately. In other words it is a complete waste of time! One day I will photograph this gate and the 500 foot driveway, to show you just what I am talking about.
After breakfast, I sat and did another Numbricks puzzle with my dad. He continues to struggle with it, but I don't give up and keep reminding him of the instructions and process. His memory can hold content for about one minute, so therefore when introducing something new to him, I find that I have to constantly reintroduce the puzzle's objectives and rules to him. It takes great patience and understanding. Because otherwise it would be very easy to get frustrated.
I have explained to my dad that he must do cognitive exercises everyday. Not just physical ones. He can see that he is getting stronger physically, and I remind him that this is a result of daily PT and OT work. So the same thing applies to exercising the brain. The more he works to complete cognitive exercises, my hope is that we can at least stabilize his dementia. I have NO delusion that an improvement is possible. Which is a deeply sad commentary, since this is no longer the person I last saw in Christmas of 2019.
The one NON chore I have done all week, is my mom and I went for a three mile walk this morning. It was wonderful to get out of the house and not be managing tasks. It is super hot in Southern California (in the 100's), so doing anything outside is a challenge. I took my parents to Westlake today for lunch. Westlake is 45 minutes away from where they live. But it is true suburbs, with more wide open spaces and restaurants with large terraces. Yet eating in this heat is not appealing at all, but a necessity, as my dad wants to eat nothing when at home.
When I got back home today, I literally did one chore after the other, after the other for several hours. I would say I am quite tired and still managing through a migraine. With my eyes tearing constantly, having a heavy head, not to mention a pounding headache.
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