Alzheimer Dad

One year of dealing with Dad's illness..We moved him to El Paso from Ft. Lauderdale 6 months ago in a huge rent a car, me, my 14 yr old son, and my sister, when his long time companion (22yrs) couldn't care for him..shades of William Faulker and "as I lay dying"...got to El Paso and my sis lost it, with his 24 hour a day hallucinating and failure to eat..they put him in the nursing home 5 minutes from the house..My sis wanted me to move to El Paso to help, but it was a little short notice to uproot kid, job, rock n' roll band..I may have to go there from NYC for the summer..he's getting worse, can't walk, wears a diaper..etc..

More notes from my sister..Went at dinner time tuesday. Dad was in the big room seated for dinner because the
east wing floor was being waxed. He was just beginning to dig into his meal when
I got there. He looked good...I sat with him, he introduced me to the guy next to
him (correctly as his daughter)..he ate well, I only had to help him a bit. Much
better than Sunday. His butt gets really uncomfortable when simply seated in the
wheel chair without an inflated cushion and fuzzy pad. On Sun. it was his main
complaint "my butt hurts"....I requested they find his cushion but no luck..it
seemed like Sun. they were very short of hands (perhaps because it was fathers
day). Anyway, yesterday I talked to Heather and she had that taken care of and
he was much more comfortable. I asked him if he'd like to get some exercise and
he said yes and attempted to stand. I guess he still thinks about walking with me
but he can't anymore. I told him I'm sorry dad but we can't do the walking anymore
but you can pull yourself along the rail and use your feet in the chair...so we did
and he said "there's nothing else to do"....I told him his tennis days were over but
we just have to do the best with what he can do. After a couple of hours he pointed
to his bed and said "we should be in there"...he was tired, so I had him put in bed
and he asked me to stay with him and I did till he fell asleep.

After putting dad to bed I went to see Peter because I hadn't seen him in the
dining room and I knew he hadn't been feeling up to par as of late....They
told me he had taken a turn and they put him in the hospital......soooooooo....
off I went to the hospital. He's in Providence (the nice hospital). Poor baby
was miserable. I asked him how he felt and he said "miserable" I said "poor
baby" and he said "yes"....then I asked him if there was anything I could get
for him and he said "soup"....I noticed an untouched dinner tray. They said
he wouldn't eat when they attempted to feed him. Well, I had him propped
up and had the soup nuked and he ate the whole bowl for me....he was hungry.
He couged a lot and gurgled and it concerned me...I was afraid I'd kill him but
he kept eating and drinking his ice tea through it. I spoke to his nurse and
his physician is the doctor I first put dad with when he got here (dr.Julian).
They said they would request a swallow test for him. I noticed lots of congestion.
They said he was admitted with congestion and respritory distress...also very
weak, so he has the vest that keeps him restrained in the bed because he
'loves to move and walk but took a fall. He's on an IV and and oxygen and has a
catheter....He just kept asked me to loosen the vest and cut the tie. I told him
I'd personally give him the scissors when he was better but for now, although I
knew it made him miserable, it was for his own safety. I gave him a hug and
told him I'd feed him lunch today...he said "thank you, that would be very nice".

Letter from my Sister in Texas ....called hospice for info. yesterday on the advice of the people on the message
board. They said hospice would be very helpful. A nurse at the home said dad
would be an eligable candidate for hospice care in the home as well as when the
time came to bring him home to die. This I had not known. I will begin the
process of getting him hooked up with hospice care at the home. I think they
just come in perhaps once a week for now to develop a rapor....this way they
know him well when the time comes...The more hands the better......