Update

I took dad to the neurologist this morning.  I am so proud of myself--I didn't cry the whole time!  I had made a list of things I wanted to talk to him about and it went well.  We went in at 9:40 and back in the car by 10:04.  I think dad being so loud has some advantages when it comes to being in a small doctor's office!  The things I talked to the doctor about was the seizure he had a couple of months ago.  Not unusual he said.  Choking is now a daily occurance--typical it seems.  Swallowing pills--he has prescribed a liquid form of his seizure medicine and I am to put it in juice.  He also gave me a capsule for the pill that he can't get down and I often find laying around later in the morning.  I am to open the capsule and sprinkle it on food.  Not sure how that will work but I will give it a try.  When his memory medications run out I will not get refills at this point.  Lack of appetite--give him whatever he wants--so M&Ms it is!  Incontinence--to be expected.

He told me that I needed to get out so I don't get burned out.  Not really feeling burned out but I do plan to bring someone in after the first of the year for a couple of hours at a time to see how he does.  I talked to our insurance company and in home care isn't part of the insurance program until he needs more extensive care and then the doctor can prescribe it and they will cover that.  Thankfully we aren't there yet.  I am now going through the Depends much faster.  Sometimes three a day but I order them from Amazon and they come the next day so I have that covered.  I notice that he has an interesting (not sure what it's called) habit where he actually looks like he is scratching his bottom but he is rubbing the material together.  I noticed that a pair of his pajamas were worn out and then I saw several other pairs of pants that had worn spots in the same place.  A bigger problem with that is at home.  When we are home he sits in the same place and he scratches the fabric.  I had noticed that the cording was showing and he has almost scratched off all of the material in one spot.  The problem is that our cushions are not reversible!  I'll figure that one out later.  His sleep is good some nights and not others but I think I have adjusted to that most of the time.  The idea is just to not fight it.  He can sleep sometimes up to 13 or 14 hours in a night and then another time he will be up and down from about 10 p.m. until morning.  On those times I turn on the television and sleep on the couch while he talks to me off and on.

He's surprisingly loud (probably because we are in a car with the windows rolled up)!  I hate it but I find myself tuning it out.  On another note he doesn't know how to put his seat belt on so I usually put him in the car and buckle him up.  I realized the other day when I got out of the car and he didn't follow that he didn't know how to unbuckle the seatbelt either.  Problem solved--no more trying to get out of the car when we are moving!

What can I say--he's still a keeper!