Up and at 'em...twice

Kenny surprises us again. He had a lousy night last night. He was delusional most of the night. But at 8:00 AM today, he told me he wanted to get out of bed to eat breakfast. Wow! Larry helped him out of bed and Kenny practically put himself in the wheelchair. He is getting a little of his strength back. He ate breakfast in his recliner, watched TV and read the paper. We put him back to bed about 11:00 AM and he slept the rest of the day. Then he announced that he wanted to get in the chair for dinner. He actually did put himself in the wheelchair and stayed there to eat dinner. Then he got in his recliner and watched "spin the bottle" (Wheel of Fortune) and then proceeded to drop into a deep sleep from which I was afraid we would never awaken him. Getting him into the wheelchair and into the bed was like getting a limp noodle to cooperate. Ah, well...three out of four times isn't too bad!

I learned a valuable lesson last night (or early this morning) when Papa thought he was outside and wanted to come in and get in his bed. Instead of trying to convince him that he was already in bed, I offered to take him in the house and put him in bed. He said, "Oh, that's much better."
I also learned that when he is so agitated in the middle of the night, rubbing his forehead or his hand or his chest soothes him and singing "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" puts him into a gentler sleep. With just a little more effort on my part, his anxiety was eased and he was able to relax and sleep for a while. All of this made me aware of other aspects of caregiving that I was failing to provide for Kenny. I hope to do better from now on.

Thanks to all of you for tuning in to Hangtown Red's blogspot. See you tomorrow evening.