Adjustments for Dad and me.

I can now write this post after 5 days. Last Thursday was just an awful, awful day.

My Brother arrived last Tuesday. I was so pleased to see him. I don't think I could have got through without him. Dad was pleased to see him. My Brother showered Dad those last few days at home. Dad continued to scream through the nights. On Thursday I was a bumbling, mumbling, stressed out mess. I will never forget the vision of my Brother wheeling Dad into the facility with the door closing behind us. Never, ever!

When we first arrived Brother and I were ushered away to an office for a couple of hours of paper work. At first I could hear Dad sobbing in the distance. When we came out Dad was having a snooze. He said that he'd been a bit upset and that they had said it would be best for him to have a snooze. Dad was exhausted so we left. I went back a couple of hours later and wheeled Dad around showing him the library, the art and craft room etc. Dad wasn't happy. He kept saying was I going to go get the car, that he couldn't drive anymore and no more of these kind of places. There are some very ill people in the high care section. Dad said 'that's what I'm going to end up like'. It's a cruel disease.

The following morning I phoned. I could hear Dad screaming and crying. The person on the phone asked me if I could hear him. I was still reeling from the previous day. My head knew I had done the right thing but my heart was questioning what had I done. I went over and Dad had settled by then. I sat with him and helped him eat his lunch. He was settled and ate all his lunch. We sat for awhile in the garden and a lady resident walked past telling me 'I had lied and had some cheek for not telling her about something', she continued passed saying 'neh, neh, neh' like a child does when teasing someone. Well, Dad got angry, said he was going to punch HIM out. This anger was new. I quickly tell Dad that the person was a lady and he said sorry. Luckily he still had that inner essence of how wrong it is to hit a woman. I leave and at home phone Dad's new Dr to sus out if he is aware of Lewy issues. I ask him straight out does he know about the medication issues with Lewy. His answered by saying there are different types of dementia....no mention of anti-psychotic medication. However he was receptive and told me to get Dad's Geriatrician to fax any correspondence plus a summary which will help him. I got Dad's GP to write a summary but it only outlines Dad's illnesses. Phoned the Geriatrician but they're not back till next Wednesday. Dad's new Dr did say he wont be prescribing anything new. I was so relieved that he was receptive and not annoyed at my blunt questioning.

That afternoon I went and stayed at my daughters' place. We went out for dinner, my 2 daughters and son-in-law, and the following day we went down the coast to Torquay. It was such a beautiful day and boy did I sleep on that beach.

I phoned to see how Dad was going. He had had a fall and luckily wasn't injured. They had warned me that falls were bound to happen. In some ways the care is better, they turn Dad every 2 hours through the night, thus helping to prevent bed sores and aches. But, not being able to prevent falls is a worry.

We are experiencing our hottest start to November in over a century. Days of 35 degrees Celsius. Not looking forward to days of mid 40's. Our state has bush fires burning, already. Let us hope we don't have a recurrence of last years 'Black Saturday', the tragic fires where we lost 173 people.

Yesterday I took my pastels and went down to a nearby river for some plein air de-stressing. Worked wonders for the soul.

A big hello to cousins in Hawaii. Hope you're having a super, wonderful time. And a big thank you to Dad's special cousin and CLP for being there.