August 26, 2024

The director at John's place told me they took John for a drive in the van today. He said John was alert and looked out the window the whole time. At one point he snapped his seat belt off and stood up. It was probably a coincidence, but they were near Knotts Berry Farm, where he worked for a few years when he was young. Who knows? Another funny thing - when John stood up the van was stopped at a traffic light, right next to a police car. That could have been ugly if he'd refused to sit down! The aide he was sitting next to gently grabbed his arm and nudged him back into his seat so fortunately he wasn't standing too long. The simple things can be quite an adventure!

August 14, 2024

In the last month I've done some traveling while I was off work for summer break, and now I've been back at work for a couple weeks. When I'm gone for a bit and return to see John, it seems that he's completely unaware that I haven't been there to visit. While I was gone the med tech send me a picture of John. The staff couldn't find him and were scrambling around trying to locate him. It turns out he was in the visiting area next to the main room. He was sitting in a chair with his back to them, and all they could see was a pink straw hat so they assumed it was a woman. Nope. It was John, sitting comfortably with his feet up, wearing a large pink straw hat. He was right there all the time. The picture is hilarious. Last week I discovered all the food I stash in John's dresser was gone. I keep twinkies and treats like that in his drawer because its easy to pop a pill into a twinkie and he gobbles them right down. He doesn't swallow his medication unless it's hidden in food. Anyway, I assumed John had a big junk food fest and ate all of the stash. Turns out no - they moved all his snacks to the med tech room because they discovered that the man who shares a bathroom with John was getting up in the night, going through the bathroom into John's room, and taking John's snacks. Evidence was found - - wrappers in the guy's bed! So funny. Yesterday I asked if I had any influence as to when John's room would be updated. They've recently started working on some of the rooms. They need space to move the residents into a different room while the work is underway. They said if I was fine with having John temorarily moved into a shared room, they could do it fairly quickly. I easily agreed to have John temporarily share a room. Then today when I arrived I found out John had already been moved into a different private room that he'll stay in while his regular room is being redone. So now John has moved from D6 to D2. That was fast! Now we'll see how long the upgrade takes. Last week one of the hospice nurses came to reevaluate John for hospice services. Fortunately I was there and was able to speak with her about the things I observe. I also told her how grateful I am for hospice services. It adds an excellent layer of service we would otherwise not receive. And it's the only way Medicare covers any of the daily care he needs. Hospice companies provide a bed, briefs, wipes, a couple showers each week, and most importantly, regular visits from a doctor, nurses, and a social worker. They handle his medications and often make recommendations to the staff about his general health. Nurses check on John twice each week. John only continues hospice care if they identify measurable loss, like medicine changes, falls, weight chanages, loss of abilities, etc. Fortunately the nurse said she would recommend that he continue on hospice. They reevaluate him every 60 days, so continuing hospice is something I worry about.