The Lighter Side Of Alzheimers

[MaNaAk]

Hello Everyone!

This is a little light relief after hearing that dad was hitting out at everyone in the care home! I went to see him today and he was due for a hair cut. Picture the scene! The hairdresser gets dad ready for his hair cut and he is sitting in the chair in a smock facing the mirror.

Weee!!! Dad discovers that the chair can move. Now bearing in my mind that dad did this when the hair dressers back was turned she then exclaims "Don't you like looking at yourself in the mirror!" At this point I start to laugh a bit an create some banter about mirrors.

Anyway I turn dad back to the mirror and the hair dresser is allowed to get on with her job but at one stage the manageress enters and dad looks like
he wants another go with the chair but he is distracted and says she's a good girl about the manageress. The hair dresser is almost finished and turns to get another piece of equipment out of her bag and weeeeeee!!! There he goes again. Dad's face was beaming and I am laughing

Meanwhile back in dad's room I get him out of the jumper which is covered in hair and find him wearing someone else's nightwear top and a strange pair of socks in his drawer!

MaNaAk

 

[charlie10]

lovely that your dad can still get pleasure from little things MaNaAk I'm guessing that CHs aren't exactly fashion parades, more like teenage girls' sleepovers with the swapping of clothes

 

[MaNaAk]

Dear Charlie,

Unfortunately a lot of the labels have come off dad's clothes so I will have to sew them on. However the socks look feminine! Also would the Alzheimers Shop sell swivel chair equivalents!

MaNaAk

 

[marionq]

This must be hair cutting time. I braved taking the wheelchair on the bus in order to take John to the barbers. Razor 2 all over, eyebrows trimmed and nose waxed. He told the barber off for nearly pulling his nose off!

We have Turksh and Kurdish barbers in Glasgow and they are great at this sort of thing and not at all fazed by old people or young. My son in law goes to this barbers with his two sons when they come up to visit from London and they get the fancy stuff done. New skills from abroad always welcome.

 

[Helly68]

My mum caused chaos in the care home hairdressers by pushing against the basin so hard she nearly tipped her wheelchair over whilst my back was turned. Cue nervous breakdowns all round, except for Mummy who was laughing her head off.
A bit like the time we were out in public and her trousers fell down. She was supremely unconcerned but passers by were staring. I don't know what they think they are looking at, she said, triumphantly. I was torn between laughing and embarrassment. She looked at me and said they're all mad.
Quite.

 

[MaNaAk]

The dentist was another problem with dad asking for his teeth back!

MaNaAk

 

[Autumnal]

I love this. Mum is still able to go fortnightly to a local hairdresser and finds it so relaxing they literally have to wake her after each wash and blow dry. She just has a wee doze while she is there.

 

[MaNaAk]

That's lovely to hear Autumnal!

MaNaAk

 

[Duggies-girl]

Haha @MaNaAk I have taken dad to the barbers a few times now and I sit outside in the car keeping a beady eye out.

Every time without fail dad comes out and walks straight by the car and I have to get out and shout for him and every time the barber quickly follows dad out of the shop waving dad's cap in one hand and dad's walking stick in the other.

It's like some kind of comedy show.

 

[MaNaAk]

Haha @MaNaAk I have taken dad to the barbers a few times now and I sit outside in the car keeping a beady eye out.

Every time without fail dad comes out and walks straight by the car and I have to get out and shout for him and every time the barber quickly follows dad out of the shop waving dad's cap in one hand and dad's walking stick in the other.

It's like some kind of comedy show.

We had a memorable day in the surgery today! Myself and dad went in he had his ears looked at (one needs to be syringed) and then his blood pressure was taken (this was normal after felodopine which had reappeared on his prescription was removed) but we both almost forgot his walking stick.

We went to make another appointment and we had to wait whilst the receptionist had to deal with a difficult customer. Dad decided he had had enough of seeing the receptionist dealing with this lady so he tried to tell to get on her bike!!!

I did my best to help but things were only resolved when another receptionist became free and we went over to her. Meanwhile I quietly said 'Alzheimers' to the other two ladies!

Hope your dad is okay

MaNaAk

PS: Dad and I enjoyed a good lunch out before going back to the home.

 

[Agzy]

It is wonderful when our loved ones find enjoyment within the chaos of their brain confusions, but even more wonderful that we can all find humour in the midst of the crazy down side we all experience.

 

[MaNaAk]

It is wonderful when our loved ones find enjoyment within the chaos of their brain confusions, but even more wonderful that we can all find humour in the midst of the crazy down side we all experience.

Thankyou Agzy!

On my way into I stopped at the surgery and apologised to the receptionist who was very understanding. I'm afraid that dad has his own way of getting rid of awkward patients! The receptionists remember the gent that dad was and in
my view still is.

MaNaAk

 

[hilaryd]

Mum always had a way with words, even as the actual number she used declined. During one of her spells in hospital, we were all sitting around her bed in a quiet ward when she let out a very loud blast of wind - and as if that wasn't hilarious enough, she then chuckled 'Wow, that was spectacular!'

 

[Jaded'n'faded]

I'll never forget the time when mum, having recently become incontinent (though completely in denial), had a large supply of pads delivered to her room in the care home. When I visited that day she turned into Private Walker from Dads Army:
'Psssst! Do you want some sanitary towels? Here - take some! Do your friends want some? I've got all these and I know where I can get more! Here - put some in your bag - no one will know!'
I gently suggested that they were inco pads rather than STs but no, she insisted that's what they were. I couldn't resist asking if she was on her period - she's 87. 'No,' said mum, 'But I'm due!'

Only in dementia land

 

[Baker17]

Went to visit my husband this morning in his care home and while we were waiting for his breakfast coming a tune came on the radio, he started tapping his feet so I said do you want to dance, so that’s what we did!

 

[AliceA]

Went to visit my husband this morning in his care home and while we were waiting for his breakfast coming a tune came on the radio, he started tapping his feet so I said do you want to dance, so that’s what we did!

Lovely to imagine.

 

[Duggies-girl]

A lovely young woman came to do dad's toenails earlier this week. She asked him if he was comfortable in his chair, he said he was but that he could easily get up and chase her round the room. Then he continued to flirt with her the whole time she was there.

Toenails were disgusting so we gave her tip. Worth every penny because I couldn't have done them.

 

[marionq]

One of Johns new odd behaviours is refusing to get off the minibus at daycare. I know it annoys the manager as it takes time and several carers to get him off. When he comes home he does the same thing so I say “Right John dinner is ready”. And he’s off the bus like a shot.

I told the carer on the bus to adopt the same tactic so John gets told at 10 am when he arrives at daycare that his dinner is ready, hurries off the bus and promptly forgets why he’s there! Job done!

 

[Duggies-girl]

Well, here I have been tonight sitting here watching tv with dad and he is dozing on and off and occasionally talking to himself.

Well he just had a little ramble and I only caught the last bit. Apparently he doesn't effing care any way.

First time in my life that I have heard him swear. I said 'what was that you said' and he said he didn't know I was there and apologised then we both laughed.

My dad never ever swears and I would never ever have sworn in front of him but hey ho always a first time.

 

[Agzy]

I posted this in poetry section ages ago but seems relevant to this thread I feel.

MEMORY LAPSES. (Early February 2017)

Oh she says the funniest of things,
And brightness in the dark it brings.
She doesn't know or realise,
But silly things can seem so wise.

“I'll always remember the things I forget,”
Is probably one of the silliest yet.
“I know I won't remember them always,
But I'll never forget them”, she often says.

But I say I know what she means,
And my agreeable answer in no way demeans.
To her whose memories are so indelible,
Their loss would be so cruel and terrible.

But I know the comfort that it brings,
As I smile, nod and say with a truth that things
Like memories and photographs get filed away,
And can still be recalled another day.

Just not today as her brain is busy,
And life right now is such a tizzy.
With laundry washing and so much to do you see,
Then those magic words,“Would you like a cup of tea?”