Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Some nice Recognition

Upside to Dementia has been named one of the top caregiver stories on the Web by Caring.com!  How wonderful and what a nice recognition!  In a couple of paragraphs, the writer really touches on what this whole journey is about for us:  Laughter, Family, Alzheimer's, Healthcare, and the struggle financially to find Dad a home with good care.  To read the quick blurb about us, click here.  

My weekly visits with Dad have been very pleasant.  We walk up and down the hallways (Emry especially loves that since she is learning to walk), we stare out the many large windows in the facility and Dad points out people walking outside on the grass (you can probably see Emry's little hand prints along the glass), and I get to know more and more of the staff at the VA.  They all take quite an interest to how Dad reacts around me and are happy to see that he is smiley, silly, and affectionate.  


As for his incontinence issues, I ordered Dad two jumpsuits that zip up the back, so that he will not be able to go to the bathroom anywhere other than his diaper.  He will also not be able to sprinkle his feces around the facility either.  Wow, I just wrote about sprinkling feces as if it was a normal activity... so weird...

Anyway, I never got around to explaining the financial aspects of Dad's new home.  The VA will take 70% of his monthly income.  What a relief.  They also require that he enroll in Medicare and assured me that the VA will pay all his penalties!  Aside from clothes and a few toiletries, the VA will pretty much take care of everything.  We are really very lucky to have secured him a spot in this beautiful and well managed facility.

So, now that Dad has a little bit of money in the bank, I can get him some much needed new clothes!  For starters... some elastic waist jeans.  Weighing in at 135, he is just skin and bones and his clothes are just hanging on him.  I talked to the dietician about starting him on some Ensure.





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