Lots of good stuff going on that I look forward to sharing, but if you can keep my parents in your prayers they are going through rough waters every couple of weeks. We had to take Dad back to the ER yesterday. He has been wearing a heart monitor for the past 2 weeks and experiencing atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. His heart doctor called yesterday and wanted him to go to the ER and admit him to the hospital for the whole gamut of tests. They think he may need a pacemaker. Mom recently finished up her 3rd UTI in 6 weeks. We are starting to zero in on her UTI symptoms because it's a stranger form of confusion than Alzheimer's, but looking back we think that some of her bad days/weeks may have actually been UTI's on top of the Alzheimer's. She has been getting home health nursing and physical therapy since the end of November. The nurse said that she has many elderly patients that are in a constant state of recurring UTI's. It's oftentimes related to hygiene and if you've ever dealt with Alzheimer's before then you know that this condition causes an aversion to water... and for us specifically Mom believes that she showers everyday, but she goes 6 to 8 weeks without a shower and we can't convince her that she hasn't showered and we can't forcibly pick her up and put her in the shower. I am thinking about just dumping a bucket of mud on her every couple of days to help her realize she needs to shower haha! If anyone has ever had success dealing with this part of dementia let us know any tips we can implement for hygiene success. Other than that our parents are in good spirits and Mom is on a streak of really good days. She has been so sweet and funny! Her sense of humor has tripled and the funny things she says keeps us in stitches... think of Aunt Bethany from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie and that's sort of what Mom is like on her funny days. Last week we had some dear friends (the Routman's) come over and spend the afternoon playing games and hanging out with Mom. Mark is a Physical Therapist and took Mom for a walk and did some exercises with her. They did this to help give us a little break from Caregiving which we greatly appreciate! Mom also has 2 dear friends that come over each week for a few hours to spend time with her. Laurie helps fill in a lot of gaps. And their neighbors across the street come over daily to help the folks with all kinds of stuff. God is developing a good team of awesome friends that are helping us manage the 24/7 demands. I've had to establish my capacity of hours I can be there for my parents without the rest of my responsibilities collapsing. I'm with my folks every Tuesday, Thursday, and every other weekend which averages out to be about 40 hours per week... which is way less than the 85 hours per week we were doing last year. But when the UTI's, ER trips, and hospitalizations happen we go back to the 24/7 "figure it out as we go" schedule. Praise God, Mom's balance and overall health has returned to a much stronger level than most of last year because she doesn't come close to falling as much as she was last year. Thank you for your prayers and support! I'm sorry I'm way behind on social media and replying back to comments... it has been a wild couple of months with the health issues and holidays and preparing for upcoming GTD events. We are doing well and navigating each new challenge as they pop up =)
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