Dementia and the Fourth of July

I remember a time when my family looked forward to the holidays. We made grand plans, spent time swimming, fishing, preparing large meals, and simply enjoying each other’s company.

This Fourth of July holiday weekend did not go as planned. Four days off, I dreamed of working in my flowers, doing a little sewing or scrapbooking, watching a fireworks display with my husband. 

But, as one of almost 44 million U.S. adults caring for an older family member (my Dad) I found myself trying to find Dad, cooking for Dad, replacing oxygen tubing for Dad, cleaning up multiple accidents created by Dad. Even sleeping was difficult, Dad was up prowling around the house two or three times a night - waking the dogs and the rest of the house.

Caring for an aging parent is hard, do not let anyone tell you it is not hard.  It is also rewarding.  As I walked into my family practice clinic the day after my not so wonderful weekend, I had to take a minute to decompress before seeing patients.  During that few minutes of peace and quiet I realized, Dad would be humiliated and heartbroken if he knew all the silly and sometimes risky things he did this weekend. 

See the blessing to this weekend is Dad does not realize how frustrating and even angry I was with his behavior.   He has Dementia.  

He does not always understand the concept of time or meal schedules. He often does not know what he is trying to find. Sometimes he cannot remember why he walked into a room. 

Caring for an aging parent is hard but, it is a role I have accepted.  The role of caregiver was once his role, now it is mine. So, we move ahead. We develop a bathing schedule, a better nighttime routine, set the door alarm to keep him safe, add a paid caregiver to help out, and keep moving forward with Dementia.

I would love to hear from you, let me know how you deal with or plan to deal with aging parents.

~ ConnieKayA ~
A Southern Girl sharing her passion for living an abundantly blessed life.

Finding Quiet Time

This week was busy but I managed to get several things accomplished.

Office charts, done.  

Volunteer health clinic grant, complete.  

Humane Society newspaper article submitted

Attended the Big Man's ceremony for the Quorum Court

Next week"s menu outlined, grocery list prepared.

Student discussions reviewed
Kennel software updated

As I was going through my email cleaning out I started reading Emily Freeman's weekly newsletter, that lead me to a her blog, where Shelly Miller shared her thoughts on The Spiritual Discipline of Idleness, Solitude, and Daydreaming.  Shelly's statement "In a busy world that prescribes more—more exercise, more diets, more involvement in community, more engagement on social media, more ways to make money, more education, and more resources for ramping up productivity—a rhythm of daily silence and weekly Sabbath is making a (quiet) comeback."

Our Front Yard in the Fall

This is where I am, trying to restructure to find some daily silence and maybe even a weekly day of Sabbath.  The Big Man and I, spent some time together today talking about how to restructure our days to allow us to have more times together and less hustle.

The focus for next week will be starting the day earlier, this will give me some quite time, time to start the day feeling less stressed and allow me to get to my office a couple of hours before I start seeing patients.  The time in the office will allow me quite time to complete paper work or work on continuing education.

Hal Elrod has written about and discussed the benefits of the miracle morning. I have read his books The Miracle Morning and Taking Life Head On.  Both books make sense, they encourage me to be a better person.  The challenge is for me to be a better person, who is not following the prescription of more is better.

So, I would love to hear, how do you find quite time? Do you practice the Sabbath?

~ ConnieKayA ~

A Southern Girl sharing her passion for living an abundantly blessed life.