Worth A Try

As the Alzheimer's makes involuntary changes to Craig's brain, we must make adjustments in every moment. That's the way it has been since diagnosis and during these last months or very few years (who knows?) it has become increasingly often. As the family member of another resident put it as she walks with her mother through Alzheimer's, "if it isn't one thing, it's another".  So true!

As reported in previous blog posts, Craig's violent and angry rages subsided with different drug combinations. The latest one was working so well that it was decided to try to back off a little bit so he didn't have to be more sedated than need be. (I'm tired as I write this; I spent the entire day with Craig and it is emotionally, psychologically exhausting. So I apologize if some pieces don't make sense. Thank you for your understanding.) The outcome of very lightly backing off of Zyprexa was two-fold. We discovered Craig's anger returned, and in that we also discovered that the level of Zyprexa he was on was the right dosage to keep him on. It is always worth a try to find out what will give Craig the absolute best quality of life he can have. Today his Dr. and I decided it was best for Craig to return him to the higher dosage.

Craig and I enjoyed a good long day together. Even though I am there with him for at least 2 hours every day, somedays I just need to stay with him all day. I miss him desperately and I can get a better feel for how he is truly doing. Today we played Bingo with everyone (Craig won twice!) and he even got to do a little bowling! He had a lot of fun. 

There's no stopping that man. He loves to engage in activity. The "Angels" with big hearts at the memory "care" have been working on getting him out of his room and active again now that the noises don't seem to be amplifying in his head anymore. He's even been taking his meals in the dining area with everyone again. They are also trying to get him to walk with his walker once a day now around the halls to keep some muscle strength in his legs.

I am over the moon happy about these!! 

Thank you the ones at the memory "care" who work so hard with him; who take the extra time and effort he needs to make what he has left as beautiful and enjoyable as possible. You are few and far between in that place.

This isn't the retirement he planned for and looked forward to...it can be any of us at anytime.

Bless you for doing everything you can to make what's left of his life ALL it can be. It means everything to us.