Long busy week. Psychiatry appointment on Thursday. Dr Khan got a good example of the non-stop, hear from 2 rooms away tooth grinding.. a couple of times it actually distracted her mid-sentence. We discussed the "snipe hunt" issue, etc. She increased his anti-psychotic meds just a little. Glen got to have a bacon cheeseburger on the way home and was able to eat it without incident. Sadly, the same cannot be said for his dinner. Kids stopped at Outback on the way home and picked up takeout. They got Glen a chopped steak which we pureed by adding a little potato soup, the au jus sauce, and some gravy. We were having dinner while watching the Sharks game. I brought him his dinner then went back to the kitchen to get my own.. and in that time he managed to attempt to eat so much that he had a serious choking incident. So of course we adjust the rules.. again. Glen gets his food last so that someone is ready to remind him to put down his spoon and swallow before taking another bite, even of pureed food.

Next morning was Dr North. Glen got to have his favorite breakfast of a Starbucks Mocha and a sausage breakfast sandwich on the way. He can still handle sandwiches in the morning because his throat, jaw and tongue muscles are rested. His weight is good. Left shoulder is pretty locked up now, and is painful if someone tries to manipulate it. Since he has no voluntary muscle use in that arm anyway, no sense manipulating the shoulder. Doctor had him walk up and down the hall then asked me if there had been any falls. I said only two, and both had been med-related. "Hmm." he said. One should always pay attention to doctor-issued 'hmm's. We spent a fair amount of time discussing the dementia, eating issues, etc. Dr North usually engages Glen in conversation about sports or something similar to assess his mental processing.
While there, I had him fill out the physician's report for the day care/activity center. Both Dr North and Dr Khan are really happy I've found the place.. in Dr North's words "we don't want TWO victims!" He also said that we can expect to see Glen's breathing start to deteriorate over the next few months. We'll see him again in about 8 weeks, barring any kind of sudden change.
So I spent much of the afternoon filling out the other 15 pages of paperwork for the center. Need to get a tb test done.. hoping to do that tomorrow when I go pick up a prescription refill. After that, I can drop off the packet at the center, and hopefully get Glen started the first Tuesday in May.

Yesterday.. I slept in late. Which was weird.. no dogs in my room, and nothing had caused me to wake up at 5 in the morning. So I went looking, and found Glen had indeed had a fall when he got up to feed the dogs .. so he'd been there from 5 am until almost 7:30. Bless her heart.. Buffy had stayed with him the whole time. Of course, Kev wasn't home at the time. I managed to help him sit up, then get him up off the floor, but naturally,it was at some cost to my back. Oh well.

Today, he's been the tooth grinder from another universe! He's mad at me for a couple of things (mostly I wouldn't take him to the grocery store) so.. he knows what will annoy me! Next project after getting the activity center taken care of will be to get in touch with the dentist to see if she has any ideas. The sad thing is all the grinding takes its toll on his speech muscles and makes him very difficult to understand at times.

And so it goes. Haven't heard back from the landscape designer yet. Will give him a couple more days then give him a call. Something happy to think about.