Mares eat oats, and

Does eat oats, and
Friday Night.  Ordinarily day.  Started out with driving Dad to the Senior center.   When we got there and the caretakers greeted Dad they said… Oh look who’s here.  It’s the devil.  Dad laughed liked he enjoyed the reference and strutted into the Senior Center like he was the big man on campus.  These caretakers really know how to stroke Dad’s ego!

a little lamb ‘ll eat ivy.
Looked for a job all day.  Also ordered a new computer.  I should have it in approximately a week.  I’m very excited about this.  My current computer is really outdated and has some issues.  I’m looking forward to a fully functional computer. 

A kid’ll eat ivy too.  Wouldn’t you??
Haven’t heard from Brody today.  Which is okay.  I’d like to hear from him everyday.  And I realize that this is not always possible. 

Mares eat oats, and
Dad came home by way of the Senior Center bus in the after noon.  Dad saw me in the house and said, there you are. . .  When did you get here??  I said, Oh, about three months ago, (we have this conversation nearly daily).  Dad has a hard time remembering that I live here now. 

And Does eat oats, and
We had dinner from a Chinese restaurant.  and later watched a movie on HBO together and dad retired early.  Soon everyone else retired as well to their respective rooms.  Dad’s blood sugar was normal all day.  And for the most part Dad was pretty well grounded the rest of the evening.

and a little lamb’ll eat ivy.
a kid’ll eat ivy too.  Wouldn’t you?

Family Trees

One of Mom’s greatest passions before she died was researching the Family Tree.  She put a lot of work into this research and generated one large five inch binder for each of her children.  Packed full of birth and death certificates and related details going back until the 1600s.  For the rest of our family, Mom put all the details into a CD ROM.  One of my uncles picked up Mom’s project after she passed on, determined to complete it. 

The most interesting thing you learn from reading about how relatives died for two or three generations.  Is how riddled with Diabetes our family has been.  Most of the deaths of my grandparents, great-grandparents was related to diabetes (untreated).  I say untreated because it wasn’t until in recent years that the health community has taken a pro-active stance in diagnosing and treating diabetes.  My relatives that died of diabetes related deaths were never diagnosed as being diabetics. 

There is type one diabetes and type two diabetes; Type three diabetes is now called Alzheimer’s.  Sad, very, very sad.

In my humble opinion, the world, the science community as we know, has discovered only the tip of the ice berg where diabetes is concerned.  The treatment has much to be desired. 

Another little known fact, did you know that often when people have the upper part of their colons removed – their diabetes disappears completely??  Doctors discovered this by accident. 

Any way, back to the family tree.  Mom discovered all kinds of interesting details when she researched the family tree.  She learned that we’re related to Daniel Boone and Mark Twain.  My father’s mother’s family also settled Montgomery, Alabama. 

The information about Montgomery Alabama brings up all kinds of questions.

Before we knew this fact we assumed that everyone in the family had fought on the northern side.  But now we knew that we fought on both sides of the civil war. 

Anyway, as you can see, a lot of interesting details can be learned about your family by researching the Family Tree.

Hello it’s me, …

Hello, it’s me
I’ve thought about us for a long, long time
Maybe I think too much but something’s wrong
There’s something here that doesn’t last too long
Maybe I shouldn’t think of you as mine
(Thanks to Todd Rundgren)

Well, I skipped a day of blogs.  I thought long and hard about abandoning the blog.  My sister was pretty upset with me over it.  She likes her privacy.   And that is why it must remain anonymous.  So I’ve gone over all the blogs and changed the names to: DS (Dear Sister), DBL (Dear Brother in law), DB (Dear Brother) and DS#2 (Dear Sister #2). 

But after thinking about it for a while.  I realized that blogging was something I have to do.  It’s an expression of my creative self.  Like Elton John writing the words to his next song.  It something you can’t avoid.  The words will come. 

Well Dad will not disappoint us.  I’ve much to tell.  Dad has always been a staunch believer in the Catholic Faith.  And even now, those of us who chose to worship God in a different faith he calls heathens.  It’s the one of last Tower of memory left with my father losing his mind to Alzheimer. 

Today, my sister, who will remain anonymous, made a mention that Dad told the senior center he was born in August 13, 776 BC.  We imagined that would make him over 2,300 years old.  We asked him how that could be??  Then I said, well Dad probably got his birthday mixed up with one of his past lives (smiling, of course).  My DS smiled a knowing grin.  And dad said…. What? (Very seriously) And gave me a serious look.  Fortunately he did not call me a heathen (again).   But as usual Dad’s personality still shows through.

However, I made it up to Dad on the car ride to the senior center.  Where we prayed for some of his old friends in Chicago.  It’s hard getting older, because the older you become, the older your friends become too, and at some point they start dying off. 

When I was dropping Dad off at the senior center the other day.  He said, this is just some place to dump me while you go to work.  I told Dad no, if we left you home all day, you’d fall into the habit of watching TV all day.  And you would lose of lot of skills like speaking, walking, etc.  The Senior Center keeps you active so that your mind stays healthy.  When I was speaking to my brother-in-law, he told me that every time Dad is tested for Alzheimer, his score continues to worsten.  I don’t know what that says, but it does appear to us that the Senior Center is a good place for Dad while we work.

How do I feel….

Good News!  DS and DBL are back.  And the whole family is humming to it’s cicada rhythm again. 

What I have learned is that DS and DBL have created a system that really works if you pay attention and use it. 

I have also learned that it takes more than one caregiver to take care of a person with Alzheimer’s.  No one should have to do it alone. 

Because what happens is that the caregiver doesn’t get a life to live.  And that’s not fair. 

What I missed most when I was taking care of Dad by myself (the few days that I did it) was my alone time.  You know the time to write in a journal, to reflect on the day.  It’s good to have that time for yourself everyday. 

Well, That’s all folks, wishing you the highest good the Universe has to offer!