I am Exhausted...I don't usually complain, Ya Right!
How do I explain something that I explained so many times before. He remembers details from the past that include his time in the military. But, he cannot remember something from 10 minutes ago. It is exhausting. What do YOU do when this happens? Please share with me......
I am the kind of person, who likes peace and quiet. I like to read and I would love to watch a show from beginning to end, without having to get up every 5 minutes to satisfy one more request. I feel like I never get enough sleep. I am tired all the time. There is no way there is a vacation in my future and I could never get him to go to the Senior Center for a time out for me. NEVER! He would take that all wrong and think I want to get rid of him. He is getting SO needy. I can tell him I went to drop the dog off for grooming and he will ask me later when am I going to take her.
I bought him a new cell phone today as his finally died. OMG,,,,Nightmare training time. And wouldn't you know they transferred the address book but the names are doubled. Just another job for the care giver to do. Until he asks me yet another question, I will continue to answer.
YOU DO WANT TO GET RID OF HIM. For four hours or a day or whatever at the Senior Center. That's nothing to apologize for. You need regular breaks. Oregon Girl, if you don't take control and manage your time? You're going to burn out. That sounds cliche', but it's absolutely true.
I get what you're saying about every five minutes. It took me some time to figure out that it was in my very best interest to anticipate mom's needs. A glass of ice water within reach, some cookies on a plate. A trip to the restroom with her before I settled down. I quickly realized I was a mess without a good night's sleep. The doc prescribed sleeping pills for her. What a wonderful difference THAT made.
It's unclear what your relationship is to your charge. If you are a paid care-giver, I'd say you're overdue for a break.
And then afterwards, once he's home again, if he's still worried you can hug him and say Never Fear For I Am Here. Give it a try and see how it goes - you DO need that time.
In the Creating Confident Caregiver course I took, we were asked to imagine a scene. Although I don't recall all the parameters, I do recall that we were to envision being stuck in traffic on a freeway, no cars moving - just stuck. The passenger with us was talking nonstop, really just kind of gabbing. He/she had the radio on to a station with what he/she liked but to us it was obnoxious. Think of that pounding, repetitive stuff that's called rap or something like that.
It was winter, and snowing. The windshield wipers weren't working, the defroster wasn't working, we were late getting to wherever it was we were going.
We were having trouble just focusing when we noticed a big rig 18-wheeler barreling down the freeway and knew we were going to be hit. We couldn't move or avoid from the impending crash.
How would you feel? Our instructor said this is how people with dementia feel all the time.
I wasn't disagreeing with you Windy - I meant about capitalising the wanting to get rid of him! (see Maggie's post above) True but not what you'd tell him?! I was just being light-hearted, sorry if I wasn't clear.
With a landline if one calls 911 the dispatcher sees automatically on the screen your home address.... thus, if whomever is calling is in shock or had a stroke and can't give the home address, the ambulance is out of the bay and on its way. Last week I had to call 911 as sig other fell down the stairs and again in the kitchen passing out, the landline phone was easy to tuck under my chin to listen while dispatch was giving instructions.