April 9, 2022

It's been a while... First off, John's friend Cliff, his friend from Easter Seals who was 104, blind, and a WWII vet, died a few days ago. Cliff was in surgery to repair an issue with his pace maker, and he didn't survive the surgery. Edna is so very sad. She took care of Cliff for the past 10 years and he even spent Christmas with her. He said she was his angel. John took it pretty hard too. He spoke about Cliff for about an hour after he heard the news. He cried. John said Cliff was "one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. I remember him quite a bit. He helped people. He was such a nice man. A gentle man. The world needs more people like him. Every time I talked to him it was just wonderful." John helped Cliff get around since he couldn't see, and Cliff helped John. Cliff's wife died of Alzheimers so he knew that journey well. He had a soft spot for John. The two of them hatched up plans for Edna to take them to the beach, walk around, have lunch, and drink beer. She accommodated them and they had a great time together. Heaven has gained a good soul. John has a hard time at Easter Seals when Edna isn't there. On Friday she was out and it took him 3 hours to settle down and eat his lunch. Edna knows just how to motivate John, and he feels at home with her. I wonder if maybe he's afraid when she's not there, or maybe just nervous. This week he had a really rough day. I was facetiming with 3 family members and he got agitated. I'm not sure if he was annoyed that he didn't have my attention, or if he felt left out. We tried to involve him but that didn't work. After a while Carrie had a good idea and took him for a short walk. That calmed him down. But later, when he was taking his evening medications, one of the pills kinda got stuck and he coughed it up. He was very concerned that this was a medical emergency and demanded that I call a Dr. I tried to encourage him to drink more water, but he got increasingly upset with me because I didn't understand the gravity of the situation. He was very angry. I talked him into calling his brother, and he yelled at Tom for a while. Finally I turned the TV on and that distracted him until he fell asleep. He never took his meds that night, and slept in his clothes. It's not unusual for John to tell me, while we're at home, that he wants to go home. He's also asked me to call his mom and dad when he's upset. They've been in heaven for a lot of years but I think it's sweet that he still remembers them and remembers them as people to contact when he's in trouble. I have to knot John's shoes now. He can tie them, but he ties them loosely and they become untied very quickly. Sometimes he ties them around the back of shoes. So I tie them now. He doesn't mind.