August 2, 2020

I facetimed with my mom yesterday. She was all about her cookies. She kept asking the caregiver "Can I have another cookie?" She ate alot! And she said "I'm going to get fat!" She seemed fine. She doesn't have Covid and she looks the same. I encouraged her to sit in her big soft lazy boy chair each day, rather than her preferred bed. I know she's in her wheelchair some of the time, but I'm not sure how much since everyone is quarantined in their rooms. I think there are about 9 residents on her floor with Covid19. And 2 more have passed away. They have about 40 memory care residents so about 1/4th of them have tested positive. Now they have 2 caregivers on the Covid portion of the floor at all times. John is increasingly frustrated with his lack of purpose and general boredom. He's been pretty cranky. I'm the target some of the time, but he's the crabbiest with Jordan. He's very hard on her. She tries to help, and he's snarky in every response. And since I'm gone working M-F now, she's taking the brunt of his annoyance. Our Easter Seals people are working hard to help us. They're trying to be really creative to try provide some coverage, especially when Jordan starts school in 2 weeks. We're praying they'll get approval for some plans they're working on for us. John's office has mirrored closet doors. The other day he asked me how to get into the room he sees in the mirror. He's also obsessed with flashlights. He's carries one around in his pocket. He keeps one on the nightstand. He pulls them out of the drawer and lines them up in a row. He tries to put in new batteries if they're runnning low. That typically requires bringing a large tool chest in the house, pulling out various tools to open the flashlight, then leaving all that stuff out. He's confident he can shave himself, but he can't. He's annoyed with me each day when I shave him. He's confident I'm doing it all wrong. He hates the shaving cream, but then twice this week he put shaving cream on in the evening. He was trying to help his smile lines so maybe he thinks it's lotion. Pretty weird. He's wanted to shower in the small downstairs bathroom for the longest time, like he used to. He likes the removable shower head. The shower handles were stripped, so I finally hired someone to repair them. John showered there yesterday, and came out of the shower pretty quickly. His hair was still dry. So was his wash cloth. So much for that experiment. He's going to be annoyed but it's much easier for me to have him shower upstairs so I can get ready while I make sure everything gets done for him in the shower. John heard me commenting to Jordan this morning about the strict Covid lockdown in Melbourne, where our niece lives. Now he thinks we're not allowed to get groceries and we're going to run out of food. I've explained a number of times that isn't the case anywhere, and especially not where we live. I've assurred him we have access to everything we need, and more. But he continues to ask.