Go Go Girls??

Sometimes we just never know what's going to pop out of Dad's mouth. Makes me wonder just what DOES he think about?

Since Monday afternoon Dad has had his share of dementia episodes. It all started when we picked him up at the Sr Center. One of the girls came out to tell us just what Dad was saying today....it wasn't very nice. He apparently told her that he had a lot of money and that they weren't getting any of it. We never hear Dad say he had a lot of money. It's usually I don't have any. Later he told me they were trying to sue him and that it was all over the TV in there. I was calling the center, he said, and he could hear me talking on the phone to them. So he was in high gear with delusions. One of his Granddaughters was suing him with her husband also. That's been an ongoing theme for several years. When I try to tell him that is just not so, he tells me I don't know anything about it and he is having to deal with it himself.

So I knew I was in for trouble this night....and I was right. No sleep at all for either him or me. He ended up in the living room laying on the floor with all kinds of stories. I was so tired and getting a headache but Dad didn't give a hoot. I couldn't lift him up off the floor and I didn't want to wake Rod so I told him he would have to get himself up. He said he couldn't do it.....but I got up to go to the bathroom and when I came back, there he was, sitting on the couch!!! Magic! He will do that sort of thing from time to time.

He didn't fall....he was just being contrary and wouldn't get into bed. I had no choice but to stay up with him.

I had discovered that Tylenol PM helped him to sleep for the last few months....but NOT TONIGHT!

Dementia is a powerful disease. Seems it gives Dad strength he normally doesn't have. He was walking around the room and would NOT wait for me to get there when the alarm went off. He was just stubborn and would not listen to anything I had to say. Apparently I was the ring leader of all this chaos and all I wanted to do was to go to SLEEP!

Rod gets up at 4am to go to work....he comes through the living room and there is Dad on the floor (again) and Rod just looks at me and then Dad and then keeps walking to the kitchen. He figured Dad was throwing another one of his fits and he was right. It was funny to see Rod just walk through with no comment. We just get used to Dad's tricks.

Dad finally got back in bed at 5am with Rod's help before he left for work.... but he didn't sleep. I tried to lay down but just as soon as I started to doze off...........there goes the bed alarm. I think Dad learned some new cuss words that morning from me.

By George, Dad was going to the Sr Ctr that day and he couldn't get there fast enough for me. I was told later he was awake the entire DAY! On a roll telling the gals just what was what. I had his appropriate T-shirt on that day. "I'm not trying to be difficult, it comes naturally."

I can't help but remember what Mom would say about Dad when he would be difficult to get along with....and her words come flooding in my mind on occasion and I can't help but laugh thinking how right she was!

Dad will argue about how to sit on the toilet...and that my way don't work! He will argue about the time of the day, telling me that I moved the hands to throw him off. Oh it never ends with Dad.

So now that I have set up just what has been going on, let's move to the actual funny part.

Tuesday night we head to Pizza hut. It's Amy, Rod, Dad and Me all at the table. Amy had been at the house earlier helping me clean closets. Her payment was pizza! Amy is listening to Dad as he spins his tales of the day's happening at the Senior Center. Half of it she couldn't make sense out of. Amy would try and trip him up with questions oh but Dad is GOOD! He wheedles his way out of explanations like a politician!
While he is eating his pizza and getting it ALL OVER his face and making us laugh....he says, out of the blue....."Then the Go Go Girls came to the Sr Ctr."
Go Go Girls???? Oh gee whiz.....that's a phrase I didn't even know my Dad knew AND I hadn't heard that term since 1965!! He started smiling that ornery smile he has and then grinning ear to ear.

So Mom WAS RIGHT! Dad did get a kick out of watching the dancing girls and hula girls on TV. I remember his denying it and telling Mom she was imagining things. haha NOT! Sure wish I could tell her now!

We didn't get much more than that out of Dad but with that line who needed anymore than that?
Dad's coming out of his dementia today. Glad that's happening but sorry to see the funny stories go for now. LOL

Vacation over....

It was more of a vacation for Dad than it was for the rest of us....I am so glad it's over and we are home again. I was limited in the work that I could do around the house but I was able to pack, repack and sort stuff for moving.
Dad is glad to have his cars here with us so he can be sure nothing is happening to them as he has dreamed of happening.
Now we just get the space ready for the rest of his stuff coming and we are all set. I think he will like having the items he made around him at last. He has his own stuff here but not the main things he owns.
He seemed to have a great visit with his friends, especially his gal friend. That seemed to be the most important concern. Imagine that? LOL Like the times he asked me when was she coming again and how can he get ahold of her to find out when she is coming.She was there every day but for one or two so that made him happy. He missed out on seeing his cousin because he doesn't drive much anymore and there was not much of a chance of his taking Dad to see him. We were busy most hours of the day until dark except for visiting Rod's family in Michigan City. Rod rarely gets to spend more than a day or two when we go back to Indiana. We are usually cleaning, organizing and setting up or fixing something at Dad's. That finally has come to an end. At least for us.....NOLA has some work to do but she can handle that, she says. I am glad of it because I cannot.
The next time I pack a suitcase, as I said on Facebook, will be when I am taking a REAL vacation. We haven't been on one of those together since 2000, or right around there. We both need one too. Rod and I haven't been on a vacation just by ourselves since, uhhhhhhhhhh, gosh, I think that was in 1979!!! OMG, it's worse than I thought!! lol
We take Dad with us everywhere we go....even our last vacation to Wisconsin. That's okay but Dad doesn't much like to travel and see things. He has always been an armchair traveler. I have tried to talk him into a cruise but he has no interest in it. I think if he got on one and saw the world from top deck he MIGHT change his mind.

Dad wishes he could stay in his home and town he knows best....of course, who wouldn't? It's just not possible unless he was in a nursing home and then we all know what happens then. Few visit and he becomes lonely and wastes away. That will NOT ever happen as long as Rod and I can take care of him.
I think it's mostly being able to see his girlfriend....that's really it. So much of the time Dad is not sure where he is anyway....but it's the kissin' he misses. LOL
He couldn't wait to pucker up when she first walked into the living room to see him. I only wish I had my camera going then.

Dad is back at the Senior Center, or the torture chamber as he calls it. He thinks they have cliques there and that they are all related....etc. Which is not true. I have asked just to see if he was correct.

Most of Dad's problems during the day are related to not sleeping well at night. So during the day he drags and dreams and imagines all sorts of things. So while Debbie was here helping me with Dad the idea of giving him Tylenol PM came up. I had not tried it before although it works for me....and then we tried it on Dad....several nights in a row and SURPRISINGLY to ME....it works. It's been about 3 weeks now and it's still working and he is only getting up once, if that, a night. Amazing difference in his daytime napping habits. He rarely has been napping at all but for when he comes home from the center and takes a cat nap.

If I had only known that a year or so ago, that would have helped a lot. I was just told that medicine like Benydryl and night time sleeping meds on the elderly had the opposite effect. Well, on Dad, that's not true for the Tylenol PM. There is peace once again at night here. Dad is so much more rested....it's easy to see.

He was awake almost the whole time we were at his house during the day. Little dementia too. I think the dementia is worse when he doesn't get good rest too. So all in all, it's a win win situation so far.