Sept.13/98
Today was the 25th celebration for dad's nursing home; they put on a major party; naturally dad and I went! I arrived to give him his lunch; it took a while but I finally got a smile out of him, and I think he knew my face. We went for a walk, lovely day, then returned for the party at 2:00. There were tons of people in the dining area...I headed right for the food since I hadn't eaten and I knew dad would be ready. Piled up the plates, exchanging greetings with staff and families. It was too noisy and we couldn't hear anything so we went outside and sat with other families and had a lovely afternoon. Dad kept eating while I kept talking. We got talking about work; a woman asked me what I did; I explained,then she told me her sister worked with Alzheimer patients. All of a sudden I noticed a resident sitting a bit apart from us trying to get my attention. I walked over to her and she told me she had looked after her husband who had had AD and told me how terrible it was...then she started crying. I did my best to comfort her; she then said she didn;t want to be here but her son had placed her (she had suffered a stroke). She kept apologizing but said she wanted me to know...poor soul. We talked for a while, I got her something to eat and she settled down. A while later she said she had to go and get her insulin; I looked at her in horror...I had just given her a rather large and rich chocolate pastry! She said she was OK; once in a while it didn't hurt her to have something special. I hope not....

Sept.20/98
As usual I'm behind in my entries..so much happens, so little time. I went to a conference and heard a renowned US environmental designer who talked about the importance of designing living spaces for those with dementia. I learned so much..if I had only known then what I know now perhaps i could have changed the course of my father's life somewhat...

In any case she talked about light and about how much light seniors need and how poor the lighting is in most institutions. I took it to heart and after reviewing dad's room realized he needed a lot more light since his sight is poor. I took over a foor lamp and a table lamp with 250 watt bulb, a definite improvement but perhaps one more lamp. I also rearranged his room...it looks a lot better and more cozy. Winter is coming, more time will be spent stuck inside with nothing to do.

I took dad to the travel movie this week and he did watch part of it, although I don't know how much he really got out of it. In any case, I'm getting him a 13" TV/VCR combo for his room so we can rent/borrow travel movies for those loooong winter nights.

Sept.30/98
I walked over after dinner to take dad some new gloves I had bought him. He was sitting in the doorway of his room, fussing with a towel on his traytable. He gave me a big smile and a kiss, once again he knows me. I got things organized and then told him I had brought some work over and that I needed his help. The fall issue of the newsletter is ready to be mailed; I have to fold hundreds, stuff the envelopes, lick them etc.. I thought dad might be able to help with the folding. I laid everything out and explained how he could help. He nodded his agreement but nothing happened. So I proceeded to fold, stuff, lick etc. He watched, laughed at my lousy jokes about how I spend my evenings licking, sticking...but he didn't help. I was a little disappointed; I was hoping it was something he could do, but I guess not. I helped get him ready for bed; he was asleep before we had finished.