Good Morning!  It is the last day of June.  Boy, these months fly by!

I joined Weight Watchers ONLINE.  I am in desperate need of losing weight and would be wonderful if I could come off diabetes meds. 

The other day Wayne asked me for a pillow case.  What he wanted was socks. 

We took one of our grandsons to the movies yesterday to see Monsters University.  It was pretty good.  He liked it and that's what counts.  He is 9. He's a picture of him his last day of 3rd grade this year:

We are getting ready for church soon. 

more to come....

Hello, it is Saturday, the 22nd of June!  Yesterday was the first day of summer and don't we know it.  The temps are going up!  Very humid.

This morning Wayne is washing clothes!  Yes, he washes clothes.  I worry sometimes that he might forget the soap, but so far so good.  It is my job to fold and put away.

I think he is depressed but who wouldn't be with everything happening to him as it is.  He tends to sleep in his chair a lot.  He also sleeps during baseball games, something he loves.  Next time he sees the doctor, I'm going to bring that up. 

We were up at a nice time this morning... just before 8am.  :)  I feel like I had a fairly good night's sleep but I'm always so tired when I get up.  Some nights though, I don't hardly sleep at all OR I am up 2 or 3 times during the night, bathroom trips for me and Wayne.  He needs to be cath'd and he can't do it himself, so that is my  job. 

I have added some games to a tablet for him and I hope to get him to play them.  He is reluctant but I am going to encourage him.  I think it could help with his brain.

Something I have noticed that he tends to think I know what he is thinking.  Then when I tell him, you didn't say anything, he just tells me what his need is.  I tell him he thinks I'm superwoman and he agrees.  LOL

I'm having problems getting him to wear the right socks.  He wants to wear "normal" socks, the ones that cut into his legs (since they are swollen).  I bought him some new socks that are similar to the "normal" socks but he still doesn't want to wear them. He definitely will not wear compression socks.  :(  and I have trouble getting them on his foot.  Actually, I can't get them on his foot.  So I have to be the "bad" guy and tell him to take those (normal) socks off and put the right ones on.  In this case I know it isn't because of his brain.  This is his stubbornness.

I have to repeat myself a lot.  Either he isn't hearing me or his ears are blocked.  He had a problem with blockage but we cleaned them out so not sure that is it now.

I have been told that I need to make him try to do more for himself so I am trying to do that now.  He does tend to rely on me for too much.  I am trying to get him to dress himself first and then if he has problems, I will help. 

more later

Upside Down and Inside Out, our lives were changed forever May 4, 2010.  It all started when my husband, Wayne, had to have emergency surgery on his back because of a herniated disc.  This left him wheelchair bound and unable to walk, incontinent both ways.  I learned quickly how to care for him.  There are times sleep is at a premium as I find myself alone taking care of my husband.  To make matters more difficult, he was diagnosed with both Alzheimer's AND Parkinson's in 2012.  We are now learning or I should say I am learning how to deal with his having Alzheimer's not to mention we do not know yet what the Parkinson's will do to his body.

If any of you are dealing with your spouse with Alzheimer's and/or a disability, I welcome your input.

I will be talking about our daily life struggles. 

Please come back to read what is happening day to day.  I will try to post daily.

We married in July 1969 and have 4 grown children, 3 boys, 1 girl.  Our daughter is the oldest.  We also now have 10 grandchildren, one of whom is a girl, the rest boys.  We also have grandchildren through our daughter's marriage, 2 grown grandsons and 1 grown granddaughter.  We are very fortunate in many ways, but sometimes we find it difficult to see that.  We count our blessings daily.  We are church goers and love our church, a non-denominational church by the name of Southpoint Community Christian Church which endeavors to return to the teachings of Jesus when he was on earth, to follow his teachings.

Before his disability and Alzheimer's, Wayne was very active.  He worked 6 and 7day weeks as a maintenance person and often coached and/or refereed or umpired games.  Now he is stuck in a wheelchair and is not able to do much for himself.  The Alzheimer's has added to his frustration as he can't come up with the right words and ends up doing things wrong.  He cannot dress himself for the most part, part of that due to the disability, the other part due to his brain not functioning to allow him to put a shirt on right or his pants, rather than backwards, inside out, or shoes on the wrong feet.  Many times he will say something, and it makes absolutely no sense to me and I ask him what he means, but he can't explain it.  This is the beginning stages which scares me because I know it will get worse.

stay tuned for more....