I Wish I Knew When the Storms...........

I finally had a chance to talk to the nurses that were with the doctor when Jack said that the doctor said he could go home...............well, actually Jack asked if he could go home and the doctor gave him the standard I will talk to the family but at this time you need to be right where you are!

One nurse said that is a typical male.........only heard what he wanted to hear! But even though it might be funny to think about it after the fact it caused some loss of sleep and real worry. The head nurse said he wants to go home so badly that he heard just that. Yes, Jack wants to go home but I am not able to take care of him 24/7 like they can at the nursing facility. Actually I could not take care of him for an hour probably because he does need a lot of attention which he doesn't realize that he gets. Nurses are always patroling the hallways looking in rooms and checking on patients. He doesn't always see them and doesn't realize that they are there.

He has not mentioned the idea again so guess somewhere down in his heart he knows that this isn't a possibility. At least I don't have to address this problem today! The home moved Jack out of his room for about 4 hours, painted, stripped the floors and put on 6 coats of wax, did the windows,etc. They also wanted to shampoo his chair and came to the house and moved another twin chair up to the facility so there will always be two chairs for him to use. Also, there will be a place for me to stay if I need to, or can rest during the time I am there. Jack does not use a bed, but an electric lift chair that flattens out into a sleeping position. Because of his lack of mobility since hip surgery he is not able to lift his legs on to a bed and when he gets into bed he can not move himself about. He found out just how difficult that was again when he was in the hospital in August if 2oo9. With the lift chair he can sit up, stand up, then sit down again and lay back to rest.

The day they came after the chair he had a real meltdown.........said he was 80 years old and all he had was a room and two chairs to his name!
He had been "hearing about women who took everything their husbands had", and they were bragging about it! Another event with the brain playing tricks...this is happening more frequently. He hears, see, knows, dreams, or thinks about things until they become reality. The man across the hall has been saying his wife has all his money,etc. It doesn't take much to influence another patient or give them ideas. We have already been through the "another man" stage. The only other men in my life or the "gay (fixed) cats" that live at this house! lol

The stages of Parkinson's Disease vary with every patient. I am glad the nurses at the nursing facility are familiar with those stages. I sometimes forget to recognize something as just one of the things with go with the disease. This isn't an easy life.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!