Little bits

We recently went to Seattle to visit Dad. He was being evaluated at a nearby geriatric/psych hospital with a very good reputation. He needed to be evaluated for a possible medication adjustment/change, and his residence medical staff knew it was not in their purview to attempt this. He was there because he had been very agitated and non-compliant. We have changed the focus from him being kept busy and active to one of him being comfortable. He is pretty much non-ambulatory. We are waiting for a space to open up in a new Alzheimer's' group home where he can have the structure he needs, and so he can be in a wheelchair instead of a walker. He falls often when he only has his walker.

Dad is doing as well as can be expected. We caught up with him at the geriatric/psych ward-I was pleasantly surprised! It was a clean, bright cheerful place. The nurses were friendly and very helpful. Dad was doing pretty well there; He was actually eating 80 to 100% of his meals, and he even said he liked the food. The sad thing is that he thought I was a policeman (I had a blue jacket on with a white patch right where the badge would have been) and that I had come to get him out of there. He wanted to leave and kept asking me if I had enough money. To get him away or just to have, like he used to do when I was young? I don't know. He kept saying, "lets go!" He never said my name once, so I'm not sure...I doubt that he knew who I was. He was much better after they discovered all he needed was a lot of structure. He's much better when he's told what to do.

The next day, he was being moved back to his usual residence. We went over to see him and he was not in a wheelchair (which I was not real pleasantly surprised to see because he falls a lot) but was sitting with his walker in front of him, his glasses and National Geographic on the floor and under his wheels. I picked up his things and gave him his glasses back, and gave him 2 dozen home made chocolate chip cookies, his favorite thing. We all visited awhile and I know that he was seeing things, and reaching for things that weren't there, and didn't answer one of my questions correctly, not once. He would reach out for something and my hand would be there at the extent of his reach, and I would just hold his hand. He would look confused, like the thing he was seeing wasn't my hand. But when I looked him in the eye and said, "Dad, I love you," he looked me back right square in the eye and said "I love you too, Mary."

What more needs to be said?