Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2003. This was Mattie's first trip to the beach. In fact, it was his first dip into the Atlantic Ocean. During that trip, it was Mattie's first and last, as he found the ocean very intimidating. Nonetheless, the key with Mattie was doing things when he was ready. It would have been very easy to never go back to the beach given his first reaction, but I am glad we kept trying, because in time Mattie love it! He particularly loved building and creating in the sand.
Quote of the day: Release in your mind who your loved one used to be and accept who they are today. ~ J. Rusnak
Today was one of those days in which I was driving non-stop! I first took my parents to the hospital, because my dad had his first speech therapy session. It was a 90 minute evaluation and assessment by a wonderful speech therapist. As soon as I got to the hospital, my mom needed to use the bathroom. So I had my dad sit in the hospital atrium, while we waited. When she finally joined us, I got her a hot tea, so she could sit for 90 minutes. Before taking my dad up for therapy, I went to the radiology film library to get a copy of my mom's brain MRI on a disk. I read the radiology report and frankly I have more questions than answers. I am hoping the neurologist can assist us next week and make some sense out of what I am reading.
The speech therapist is lovely and included me in the session. Smart woman, and understands the challenges caregivers of dementia patients face. Despite being in her 20s, I found her very sensitive to the situation. Throughout the session, it seemed NOVEL to my dad that he has dementia. In fact, in his mind, he doesn't have dementia and thought the therapist today was going to tell him as such. She reminded him that he was already diagnosed with dementia and her job wasn't to diagnose him but to help him develop strategies in order to have a better quality of life. No matter how many times we explained this to him, he kept insisting...... 'but I don't have dementia!'
The therapist administered part of the ALFA (Assessment of Language-Related Functional Activities) today. Particularly the parts of the test that focus on Understanding Medicine Labels, Using a Calendar, and Reading Instructions. In truth he did fairly well on this assessment and with that he said... 'see I don't have dementia.' Of course the therapist explained that this assessment wasn't for that purpose. Instead it assesses what strategies work for him to remember things. I use many word prompts and cues at home, and after today's assessment I see that I am spot on! These work for him.
In any case, it is now 11:30pm, and I am still up and working on a template for my dad's daily notebook. As she wants him to record things he considers memorable throughout the day. I have done this before and the only person frustrated from this exercise is typically me. I am hoping it goes better now. Since he does respond to visual cues, I would love it for him to get use to turning to his notebook for reminders. My fear however is that I really don't think that my dad cares to remember anymore. Not so much from apathy, I just don't think he deems this as important.
After therapy I took my parents out for an early dinner. I did this because tonight I was going to my friend's house to welcome her cousin to town. This is a yearly event that I try not to miss. However, this year is anything but normal for me. Tonight was my first night out of the house without my parents in 9 months. I left them for three hours, and that was only possible because all of their needs were met beforehand.
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