Dad's Mind, My Heart

I was going to share our trip to the Eastern Shore next and include photos because it's chronologically accurate, but I can't today. I just need to get some things off my heart concerning my father's Alzheimer's. I'm sad.  I'm sad for him.  I'm sad for myself.  I'm sad for his friends. I'm sad for my kids.  The past few days he has been really bad for him memory wise. He often thinks he is in Florida. He can't read his handwriting. He wants to be on top of his finances, but can't remember what we covered after 10 minutes. He is getting really anxious, and it presents as "allergies". Yesterday I gave him Sudafed, and then he asked for more allergy medicine, so I gave him a nose spray, and he wanted something else, 20 minutes later, so I gave him his prescription Valium. I encouraged him to wait at least 30 minutes since he just took another "allergy" medicine because he was extremely impatient. 30 min later, he could breath...

 It's been quite a while since I updated the blog. There has been a lot going on.  Dad's trip to Florida was wonderful. Aside from our small argument on his first day there, everything else went smoothly thanks to C. I truly appreciate her. Like I do, she knows that keeping him busy is the key to keeping him happy, and I'm incredibly thankful for everything she included him in while he was there. On April 22nd, C reported that he watered the plants and the grass and was happy. She told him no heavy lifting or strenuous work because he had just had his surgery. He was complaining to her that I worry too much.  I told her that he wasn't allowed to lift anything over 10 lbs and encouraged him to drink more water. I also let her know that if he had shortness of breath, he needed to go immediately to the ER, as that could be his aortic valve needing help. I also let her know that if he does have a UTI or any other type of cold, it would impair his cognition and that before h...