Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2006. Each fall weekend, we would take Mattie to an outdoor festival. Mattie preferred being outdoors, exploring, and having an adventure. We were very different in that respect, but I came to appreciate the freedom associated with green spaces and nature. As you can see the festival had this pumpkin measuring stick, and I snapped a photo of my two boys next to it.
Quote of the day: Frustration is a very positive sign. It means that the solution to your problem is within range, but what you're currently doing isn't working, and you need to change your approach in order to achieve your goal. ~ Anthony Robbins
Though I appreciate tonight's quote, my level of frustration as a caregiver has NO easy solutions and there is very little that I can do to change my approach. The problem is I am coping with rapid physical and cognitive decline in my parents and that simply just doesn't look pretty. My dad woke up this morning with hives, yet again. Unlike what happened about three weeks ago, today I saw no evidence of any insect bites. The question is what is causing the hives??? Since my dad goes to a memory care center three days a week, I can't always be certain if the issue has arisen from home or from the center. But managing this with someone who has moderate to late stage dementia is beyond exacerbating. I can tell him not to scratch and I can lather him up with creams, but he goes right on and continues scratching. Which spreads the issue. I have tried bandaging him up in the past or him using cotton gloves. Nothing works and I am just hoping this doesn't spread all over his body like what happened a few weeks ago which would require another doctor's visit. I am living in ground hog's day, where every day is the same craziness as the day before, but with only added problems tacked on.
While my dad was at the memory care center today, Peter and I took a Foundation conference call. It was another non-profit who wanted to consult with us. They wanted to know how to follow our successful model of creating Standards of Care. This may sound easy, but there is nothing easy about changing a system and getting various professional groups to work together to accept there are no standards and then work on creating them. It was flattering that someone wanted to consult with us on "our model." Which of course made me pause and acknowledge that what we have accomplished in three years (from our vision to published Standards) was truly remarkable.
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