Monday, August 17, 2020

Monday, August 17, 2020

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2008. Mattie's art therapists knew he loved Scooby Doo. So they stenciled a scene from the TV show on a ceiling tile. For weeks, Mattie, Peter, and me painted in this tile. After Mattie died, the hospital gave me most of Mattie's tiles. He did 6 of them over the course of his treatment. However, two were missing.... this one and his giant roach!

Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins. 

• number of people diagnosed with the virus: 5,435,908
• number of people who died from the virus: 170,453

This morning my dad's physical therapist came over. We introduced a new exercise to my dad. Walking on the street where he lives. It was about an 18 minute walk. Me and the caregiver trailed after my parents in a transport wheelchair. My dad's PT asked me to purchase such a chair about a month ago. So I did! The chair made a huge difference because it enables us to cover more ground.

Please pay attention to this driveway. Perhaps you can get a better idea for how LONG it is! It is over 500 feet from the front door to the gate on the street. 

My parent's house is on a flag lot. We share a driveway with the house in front of us. In order to get to my parent's house, you have to walk down Allison's driveway and then down the driveway in the above photo! Which translates to quite a walk!! When I have packages and boxes by the gate, it is a fun chore. I did buy a red wagon, because it helps schlep items from the gate to my parent's front door. 

My dad was focused only on the street. He walks with his head face down. So in essence he isn't paying attention to anything or anyone around him. However, several people that were out walking were cheering my dad on and giving him a thumb's up! 

I have noticed when watching a TV show with my dad, he has no memory for the characters in the show and can't understand one scene to the next. I wasn't quite getting why this was happening, as I did not know if he was distracted, tired, or what! In fact, when we watch TV together, I pause the show every 5-10 minutes to process what we saw, so he can follow along with us. 

Today, I went through a few memory exercises my dad's occupational therapist sent to me. In fact my dad's OT has been very kind to share many workbooks with me electronically. As some of these books are $90 or more. In any case, this is a sample exercise. So let's say, I tell my dad to remember three words... bush, tree, grass. Many of us without cognitive challenges, are coding these words as a visual, or perhaps you are seeing the connection among these words in your head. These codes help us remember. What I quickly could see is that my dad is unable to code words! He can't visualize these words or he objects these words stand for. So he sees NO connection between tree and grass per se. In addition, if you ask him to recall these words a minute later, he can't! He has no recollection. This was very very revealing to me, and helps me have a better understanding for the complexities I am seeing as we watch TV together. 

Another exercise was to look at the box of objects on the left, one at a time. Then  cover the box on the left and ask my dad to draw what he recalled in the right hand column. He was able to do it, but it was challenging and he had to do it about twice or three times until he remembered all three objects in each example. 

Today was Sunny's last morning walk in the woods behind Peter's parents home!

Apparently Miss Indie is thrilled to be home. Sunny, however, maybe a bit dejected. In Boston he had access to a backyard filled with squirrels, bunnies, and chipmunks. He got to visit a farm, play with other dogs, and get lots of attention. Summer camp I tell you!

After an 8 hour drive home, Peter walked into our home to find a flood. All our wooden floors popped up and it was a total mess. Honestly I would have lost it! As I am tired and on overload most days. 

I am sorry that Peter is dealing with this alone! See how awful this looks!!!