Back for five weeks ...

[Lancelot]

and much has happened.

My Mom passed away on Sep 24; her heart finally gave out. She was 79

We buried her at the home town where she and my Father grew up. Dad is struggling to understand it all; Alzheimers is such a cruel disease.

Dad talks a lot about his time in the service. I sent him a hat from the Philippines: "Clark Field Angeles City." He told me that General MacArthur gave him the hat so the MP's would not hassel him when he parked the staff car at the Manila Hotel. (I think he really did drive The Great One a few times...) Some times he's so funny with out trying to be so

I've lost 12 pounds and -physically- feel great. The rumors concerning "healthy" Thai food are greatly exaggerated

Here are a few pics of my Aug 30 train trip from Chiang Mai to Bangkok

[haha]

Lancelot, my heart goes out to you on losing your Mother, and on your concerns for your father.

God be with you.

Ha

[KB]

I'm so sorry about the loss of your mother. Bless you for taking care of your Dad. It's good that you came home when you did.

[Lancelot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Lancelot, my heart goes out to you on losing your Mother, and on your concerns for your father. God be with you. Ha

Thanks Ha. I had almost three weeks with her and I'm thankful for that.

[Helen]

Lancelot, I too am sorry for your loss. Take good care of yourself.

[l2ridehd]

Sorry for your loss. And your right about your dad, it's a very cruel disease. My sister has it and we have some very strange conversations.

Do they still have the night markets in Chiang Mai? I have been there a few times for work back in the early 90's and always had an interesting time. You could buy anything at the night market and it seemed to go on for miles.

[chinaco]

Sorry about your mother.

The things you related about your father and his disease... that type of thing seems to be fairly common (according to what I have read and what we experienced).

Be sure to develop a plan for your fathers future care.... he will continue to require more and more monitoring and eventually hands on care...

Plan on it. Don't try to figure out what to do next in the middle of a crisis. Things will just happen... you will not get any warning and may not even detect that things have deteriorated... care givers often become so caught up in day to day care, they overlook things that might serve as warnings that more care is required... care that they may not be able (or even willing) to provide.

Identify the best facilities in your area and get him on a couple of lists so you have a contingency plan in place. When they call if you are not ready... you can tell them to shift you down on the list. You might also identify adult day care facilities in your area to act as a temporary stop gap solution for respite care, bathing, etc... if they exist!!!

[MichaelB]

Lancelot, so very sorry to hear about your Mother's passing.

[Lancelot]

Thanks all for your kind words.

I2ridehd- yes CM still has a night market

chicano- Good advice about future planning. I can see that Dad is going to need to be placed in full time care in the future. We have a care giver that comes four days a week to be his companion. He loves to talk and become agitated if some one is not giving him 100% of their attention. I can do it for only so long, then I feel drowsy, maybe its my mind's way of shutting down. (Dad's conversations are like a viedo on rerun- he repaeats the same stories endlessly...)

On a funny note he loves to talk to pretty girls. Nothing shy about Dad now

[Bestwifeever]

So sorry about your mother. At least you can see some humor in some of your dad's thought processes, pretty girls and MacArthur. Hang in there.

[Lancelot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever So sorry about your mother. At least you can see some humor in some of your dad's thought processes, pretty girls and MacArthur. Hang in there.

Thanks.

Dad come up with some real classics: he adores his care giver and was encouraging her to eat carrots (What Dad eats; every one should eat...) She balked and asked "Why should I eat carrots?" Dad: "Well, umm, you've never seen a blind rabbit have you?"

Case closed

[DangerMouse]

Sorry to hear of the loss of your mother. Sounds like your father might be putting a smile on your dial from time to time with his comments.

[Lancelot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DangerMouse Sorry to hear of the loss of your mother. Sounds like your father might be putting a smile on your dial from time to time with his comments.

Thanks DM. Yes, Dad can get us laughing

[Moemg]

So sorry to hear about your Mother and the concerns about your Dad ! We truly are the sandwich generation .

[Lancelot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moemg So sorry to hear about your Mother and the concerns about your Dad ! We truly are the sandwich generation .

Thanks M.

Yeah caring for elders is much more time consuming than I thought. The costs for the elderly are huge as well.

Dad is becomming more agitated and restless. When we get in the truck, the first thing he checks is the gas guage. Even when its sitting on full, he becomes confused and stuck on "Why don't we get some gas? I'm not pushing if we run out of gas..." Our trips to Hardees are fewer and farther between now. Just part of the disease...