It's the Little Things

Robert is very easily pleased. While I run around “behind the scenes” to make sure Robert gets his medication at the correct times and is enrolled in a Day Program and is allowed to be “let out,” Robert is content sitting in a recliner watching television and playing his word search puzzle book.

As long as Robert is able to watch the news so he can later recite the weather (and write the forecasted high temperatures in his word search book) and can watch Jeopardy at 6:30 p.m. and Wheel of Fortune at 7:00 p.m., he’s a happy man. Well, that and having some good food. Then he’s happy. Oh, and he needs a bottle of 7-Up with him at all times. When all these things occur, that’s when he’s happy.

It really doesn’t take much.

Can I have my brother please? Please?

New Home is starting to really get on my bad side. That’s not a good side to be on (just ask my hubby!) . :-)

We got through the medication issues and New Home seems to be giving Robert his medicine when he’s supposed to have it. I haven’t seen the extreme seizure activity that he had and that’s the best way of confirming what they’re telling me.

First Interview -- Ack!

Oh, goodness!  I was nervous as heck but I did my first ever interview for an internet talk show through caregiving.com.  I've posted the link on the sidebar if you are interested in listening.  It turned out to be a lot of fun -- hopefully, my nervousness didn't come through too very much.  I'm so much more comfortable writing!   Enjoy . . .

Electrical Storms

I love a good Midwestern thunder storm. The air so still it quiets the neighbor’s dog. Lightening flashes so bright they illuminate the entire sky. Thunder booming so loud you can feel it in your chest.

Electrical storms in the brain, I can do without.

Robert moved out of his Old Home and we have said goodbye to inattention, high staff turnover and a few unnamed folks so uncomfortable with seizures they asked him to leave (of course, the “official” line was quite different).

We have said hello to New Home with a 3:1 patient/staff ratio, familiarity with seizures as well as a promise of more age appropriate social interaction. Such high hopes!

However, New Home has brought an onslaught of seizure activity.

Robert has moved!

Robert moved in to his new place today. I was very worried about the move (did I pick the right place for him? Will he like it? How will he adjust to having a roommate?). Robert was excited. He told everyone at his Old Home that he was moving, when he was moving and that there would be people his “own age there.”

My husband and I arrived at breakfast to get Robert all packed up. Robert enjoyed a leisurely breakfast grinning from ear to ear each time Richard and I walked past him in the dining room with his boxes, a recliner, bags of pillows, clothes and more boxes.

Robert was excited. I was worried. Will all this stuff fit at the New Home? Will the aides treat Robert nicely or will they be annoyed by his repeated jokes about moving to New York City? Will they help him adjust to new routines and let him hang on to old ones (the boy has to watch Jeopardy & Wheel of Fortune!)?