Went to visit Dad today and could hear him yelling before I got to his section at the home. He has been yelling a lot of late, pretty much ever since I can't visit him as much due to my new job 
or was it a change in medication, or is this just another stage....though we thought we'd done this stage about 18 months ago and were glad we had survived it the first time.
Anyway I walked in like an amused Mum and gave him 'What do you think you are doing, you naughty scamp?' look with hands on hips and eyebrows raised and it worked and he stopped yelling and gave me a sheepish grin and laugh. And as I sat down with him for dinner I scolded him like a not too cranky Mum and told him he really needs to stop doing all the yelling because he is upsetting the staff. All the while though I could feel the energy pulsing off him, he is so wired up like he's on serious caffeine and I thought I must be really in tune with him because he was behaving like I felt at 4am this morning when I couldn't sleep! I managed to convince him to eat dinner with me, with the promise of a long walk after it (I must point out that I don't even know if he understands me when i talk to him, but he seems to sometimes or all the time, or I could be just imagining it all). Throughout dinner however he was still struggling to stay focused and not yell intermittently, I don't know what's causing it.
Took him for a long walk all around the home, letting him walk by himself (me staying behind him cos he forgets i'm there when he can't see me) for a fair bit of it, so he got a kind of sense of freedom and it ended up that I stayed with him for well over an hour. As we got back from our walk and I sat him down, I heard one of the staff yell 'Emergency' and saw another inmate, who's family I happen to know, appeared to be unconscious, but I don't know what happened to him. Seeing that all the staff were involved and the time it was, I paused and rethought leaving Dad sitting in the chair, because he can't get up himself and I was concerned that as the staff were all busy he may get left there for far too long, by himself, probably with dirty pants, and would be yelling away and upsetting all the residents as well as himself. So I stood Dad up, put his protective helmet on him, watched him walk around the hall by himself and then left.
Wish I hadn't now ..., got home from being out at dinner and I had a phone message left for me by the home, asking me to call as Dad had had a fall, and then a second message from my mother telling me that the home had called her and that I really shouldn't leave Dad walking around when I leave the home as tonight he had had a fall. That really upset me, and then I got mad.
I rang the home back and was scolded for leaving Dad walking around by himself unsupervised, so I snapped back that what did they want me to do, they get upset that he is yelling all the time and in order for him to not yell all the time he needs to walk, the staff member muttered something about not having enough staff to watch people like Dad and it was dangerous for them to be walking about. Turns out he didn't fall over either, one of the other residents whacked him over with her walker (I know the one and she would have done it intentionally, though dementedly! )
Next I rang mum back told her the update that Dad appeared to be okay, and then told mum that I did not need her to be telling me I shouldn't be leaving Dad walking about! (snippety wasn't i?) She said 'Oh I was just repeating what the staff said' so I told her she should think before she did that. The damn staff were feeling guilty because they were too busy dealing with the 'emergency' guy, that I suspect was an incident caused by noone checking on him who was locked in a chair for 40 minutes. And how many times had Mum and I discussed how we preferred that Dad be free to walk around then left in a chair all day and night?? That we'd rather him risk falling and even dying from it, then be locked in a chair until he no longer had the ability to walk.
Absolutely I am snippety because I feel terrible for leaving Dad walking and then he falls. But at the same time, he could have been sitting in the chair and the same woman could have come over and whacked her walker into his knees (and I've seen her do it to a wooden gate and I reckon she could break bones!). Probably doesn't help that I have been up since 4am, done 2 loads of washing, hung the washing out to dry then had to hang it again in the garage because it was going to rain, washed my 2 dogs with flea wash, did a step aerobic class with my step-daughter, went home and mowed the front lawn for an hour, had a shower got in the car and took my step daughter to her ten-pin bowling club, watched her do that for an hour, being a good supportive, mum who's not really a mum, did the grocery shopping, fueled the car and got fuel for the mower for the back yard, cooked 4 nights worth of dinners (because I find it easier to have time for Dad if I pre-cook it all on the weekend), then went and saw Dad. Finally had some time out with husband and step daughter as we went out for fish and chips and a coffee and got home to my lovely phone messages!!! Aaargh!
Its times like these when I like to use Dad's favourite alzheimer's swear phrase, bloody, bloody, bloody!
or was it a change in medication, or is this just another stage....though we thought we'd done this stage about 18 months ago and were glad we had survived it the first time. Anyway I walked in like an amused Mum and gave him 'What do you think you are doing, you naughty scamp?' look with hands on hips and eyebrows raised and it worked and he stopped yelling and gave me a sheepish grin and laugh. And as I sat down with him for dinner I scolded him like a not too cranky Mum and told him he really needs to stop doing all the yelling because he is upsetting the staff. All the while though I could feel the energy pulsing off him, he is so wired up like he's on serious caffeine and I thought I must be really in tune with him because he was behaving like I felt at 4am this morning when I couldn't sleep! I managed to convince him to eat dinner with me, with the promise of a long walk after it (I must point out that I don't even know if he understands me when i talk to him, but he seems to sometimes or all the time, or I could be just imagining it all). Throughout dinner however he was still struggling to stay focused and not yell intermittently, I don't know what's causing it.
Took him for a long walk all around the home, letting him walk by himself (me staying behind him cos he forgets i'm there when he can't see me) for a fair bit of it, so he got a kind of sense of freedom and it ended up that I stayed with him for well over an hour. As we got back from our walk and I sat him down, I heard one of the staff yell 'Emergency' and saw another inmate, who's family I happen to know, appeared to be unconscious, but I don't know what happened to him.
Seeing that all the staff were involved and the time it was, I paused and rethought leaving Dad sitting in the chair, because he can't get up himself and I was concerned that as the staff were all busy he may get left there for far too long, by himself, probably with dirty pants, and would be yelling away and upsetting all the residents as well as himself. So I stood Dad up, put his protective helmet on him, watched him walk around the hall by himself and then left.Wish I hadn't now
..., got home from being out at dinner and I had a phone message left for me by the home, asking me to call as Dad had had a fall, and then a second message from my mother telling me that the home had called her and that I really shouldn't leave Dad walking around when I leave the home as tonight he had had a fall. That really upset me, and then I got mad. I rang the home back and was scolded for leaving Dad walking around by himself unsupervised, so I snapped back that what did they want me to do, they get upset that he is yelling all the time and in order for him to not yell all the time he needs to walk, the staff member muttered something about not having enough staff to watch people like Dad and it was dangerous for them to be walking about. Turns out he didn't fall over either, one of the other residents whacked him over with her walker (I know the one and she would have done it intentionally, though dementedly!
)Next I rang mum back told her the update that Dad appeared to be okay, and then told mum that I did not need her to be telling me I shouldn't be leaving Dad walking about! (snippety wasn't i?) She said 'Oh I was just repeating what the staff said' so I told her she should think before she did that. The damn staff were feeling guilty because they were too busy dealing with the 'emergency' guy, that I suspect was an incident caused by noone checking on him who was locked in a chair for 40 minutes. And how many times had Mum and I discussed how we preferred that Dad be free to walk around then left in a chair all day and night?? That we'd rather him risk falling and even dying from it, then be locked in a chair until he no longer had the ability to walk.
Absolutely I am snippety because I feel terrible for leaving Dad walking and then he falls. But at the same time, he could have been sitting in the chair and the same woman could have come over and whacked her walker into his knees (and I've seen her do it to a wooden gate and I reckon she could break bones!). Probably doesn't help that I have been up since 4am, done 2 loads of washing, hung the washing out to dry then had to hang it again in the garage because it was going to rain, washed my 2 dogs with flea wash, did a step aerobic class with my step-daughter, went home and mowed the front lawn for an hour, had a shower got in the car and took my step daughter to her ten-pin bowling club, watched her do that for an hour, being a good supportive, mum who's not really a mum, did the grocery shopping, fueled the car and got fuel for the mower for the back yard, cooked 4 nights worth of dinners (because I find it easier to have time for Dad if I pre-cook it all on the weekend), then went and saw Dad. Finally had some time out with husband and step daughter as we went out for fish and chips and a coffee and got home to my lovely phone messages!!! Aaargh!
Its times like these when I like to use Dad's favourite alzheimer's swear phrase, bloody, bloody, bloody!
