Re: leona, going wherever

[Guest guest]

leona,

before we had to put depends on daddy he had problems with urinating anywhere,

everywhere, he did for a while use a urinal, i told him that itwas ok if he

couldnt make it to the bathroom we all make mistakes and you see i have a urine

bag as i had a disease that destroyed my bladder and reminded him that many time

i had to wake donnie up in the middle of the nite to put a new bag on me adn

change our sheets as my bag came off and i peed everywhere. also see the tiolet

may be dificult for him they have no dept perception so my dad was tall 6'3''

well the next best thing instead of toilet for him was letting him pee in the

sink, now i had to tell what little company we had to use the kitchen sink for

brushing their teeth as we only have one bathroom. also whenever daddy was

showering it would trigger him to pee, again thats okay easier to clean

shower/tub ad sink then carpets and closets. daddy would never use the bedside

commode and he never used the one we put over

the commode so it would nt be so low for him he would take it and move it and

put it back when he was done using hte toilet. so that didnt work. but the bes

thing we did was have handicapped bars put on each wall in hte bathroom one on

each wall in the tub and one that was high on the toilet send end to lower at

the tank end to help him up and down. but the very best thing we did was take

the shower curtain rod down and have a carpenter put up a steel bar into the

studs so dad could grip on to that iwth dear life when he was getting in/out of

tub or whenever he was being washed he felt more comfortable with his hands

higher than lower. the carpentar was a hefty man about 300+ lbs and he showed me

how strong that shower curtain replacement rod was he swung from it picked his

feet up off the ground and swung 4 or 5 times so i knew it would support my

dad.

as for you, call the alzheimers assoc they are learning more and more about

lbd and they have support groups that many of htem supply a caregiver for you at

no charge so you can attend their meeting and maybe share your story, you may

meet a 'partner' or someone you click with that you can call each other when the

going gets tough or to share the excitement of a good day. it is great to have

people to talk ad maybe they dont understand lbd but ther are some things in

common that you might find someone to click with. at least it will be getting

out for a few hours.

again please call the council of aging and the elders affairs offices to see

if you qualify for some federally funded programs we qualified for some great

programs, we got a carton of depends diapers, a boX of plastic waterproof

bedpads which i donated to the nh as i didnt care for them.

but leona the most important rule of being a caregiver is YOU MUST TAKE GOOD

CARE OF YOURSELF, or who will take care of your loved one if you are

hospitalized or sick. noone can take care of your loved one like you can

right?i learned the hard way i ignord my kidney symptoms and wound up in the

hosp for 5 weeks, and that is when daddy fell and broke his hip and he died less

than 3 months later. no i am not saying if was home he wouldnt have fallen,

but he was less likely to get up on his own if i was around as he didnt mind'

'bothereing ' me , he siad he didnt like to 'bother' the caregivers, i said dad

we pay them to help you, you arent bothering them.

dad would used to love to sing and so do i, not that we are choir members but

for fun, and i would make up funny songs just to make him laugh. sometimes that

was all it took to snap him out of ugly mood. sometimes just leaving him a lone

if he was calling me ugly names i would say daddy when you can talk nice to me i

will be back, and abut 10 minutes later, i would hear 'honey cani have a drink

please? sometimes it just takes walking out coming back in toalking about

something entirely different. just remember no matter how much it hurts, you

get the brunt becuase deeeeeeeep down in the brain where lbd hasnt effected

there is an unconditinal love that knows that no matter waht you two love each

other.

i knjow it is hard, dad did alot of sexually inappropraite comments and

actions to me, and thoewere hard to ignore but i had to. you are with us, we

will help yo uthru this all, hugs. sharon

Leona Chereshnoski wrote:

Thanks for the responses. That is a good idea about the sheets in layers. I

will see about getting more pads. I do have the waterproof mattress pads and

he does ok with them--no sweating. I haven't used a commode but I guess

that is a thought. I have one available from my mother's things. When we

have trouble is when he wakes up to go, if he would just go whenever, I can

deal with that better than this urinating wherever. He even has trouble

sitting when he is wide awake too. Tomorrow I have to go to the health care

store so I may get a lift seat for the toilet and try that and then bring

the commode home after the week-end.

I know it must be hard for him too--esp. when I don't cope well. I pray

every night for patience but I never have enough.

The Doctor warned me about giving the Seroquel to him when he was having an

attack. My son made the error one night and neither one got much sleep. I

wish I could give him 1/2 one at 3 pm and a whole one at bedtime--nights

would be better maybe. I guess I could ask the doctor.

Thanks girls for your help, advice and encouragement. Leona

God whispers in your soul and speaks to your mind. Sometimes when you

don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at you. It's your

choice: Listen to the whisper, or wait for the brick.

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