I went to visit my father this afternoon around 3:30pm. He was sitting near the door waiting with a paper in hand that had my sister Karen's and my phone number on it. He was very frustrated as he wanted to call us and said the nurses made him dial a nine first. To dial the phone number as written is a challange for him..to add a nine was impossible. Evidently the nurses weren't helping him and he said he would die if this kept up.
I suggested that we leave, go for a ride and he quickly agreed. As we were departing a lady who was also leaving and had been sitting next to a different resident said she would like to tell me that the nurses weren't helpful to my father and she felt like he wasn't getting respect. She added that he had been very frustrated. It was sad to see him in such a state of despair.
I drove us along the beach and up to Ogunquit and finally up the backway to his home. We stopped in and walked around his yard. He asked me if the truck in the driveway was his. I told him yes it was and a nice one at that. After we left his house we stopped by the chocolate shop where my wife Sandra was working. He was very happy to see her, she gave him a shortbread cocoa cookie which he liked very much. We then left and I drove him back to Sentry Hill where my sister was waiting and they drove off to York Hospital for dinner. They had arranged to meet a lady friend of my dad's and her 98 year old dad for dinner.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
3/27/2009
Exhaustion is setting in. Sandra and I returned home last night from Worcester at midnight. It was raining fairly hard and made driving very difficult. We had dinner with Nathanial at a Chinese restaurant call Nancy Chang's. It was very good. We had lomaine, brown veggie rice, mushroom, snow pea veggies and deep pot shrimp and scallops. The seafood was amazing. Nathaniel (my son) and I both said "WOW" at the same moment, he biting into a shrimp and me into a scallop.
He has told Sandra and I he would like to switch majors from English to Music. At first the idea was pretty horrible. Ever since he was a little kid I tried to imagine him at a professional job making a nice living and not having to endure the stress of a creative live. But, it's ok. It is his destiny and I am in full support of whatever he wants to do with his life. I can try to guide him and give him useful insights but he makes the final decisions.
He is talented in not only music but also drawing, photography, writing, etc. We spent a few hours discussing mostly the cons of becoming a music major and then getting a masters in education and how much this will cost and how little he will get paid. It didn't disuade him. He said there is nothing else he wants to do, nothing.
So I am enthused and encouraged he has such a passion.
He has told Sandra and I he would like to switch majors from English to Music. At first the idea was pretty horrible. Ever since he was a little kid I tried to imagine him at a professional job making a nice living and not having to endure the stress of a creative live. But, it's ok. It is his destiny and I am in full support of whatever he wants to do with his life. I can try to guide him and give him useful insights but he makes the final decisions.
He is talented in not only music but also drawing, photography, writing, etc. We spent a few hours discussing mostly the cons of becoming a music major and then getting a masters in education and how much this will cost and how little he will get paid. It didn't disuade him. He said there is nothing else he wants to do, nothing.
So I am enthused and encouraged he has such a passion.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
3/25/2009 (2)
9:22 pm
Not very tired but should be. I took my daughter to a 2 hour basketball practice in Portsmouth, NH and managed to sneak in some photography. I got several nice shots of the sun setting over the Mill Pond looking westerly.
I visited my dad at 1:30 today. We went for a 1.5 mile +/- walk. My father saw an old hey wagon on Woodbridge Road and immediately nocked on a neighboring door and he asked if it were for sale. A twenty something gentleman asked us to come inside where father found out he knew the owners mother and that the wagon was not for sale. The weather was great, 40's, not quite cold! Bright and sunny...spring is closer.
We walked back to Sentry Hill via Varrell lane from Woodbridge and passed Rita's house, Rita is my father's second wife. Divorced. Upon return to Sentry Hill we ran into Jack Lewis an artist at Sentry Hill who is 90 years old. He is very interested to paint my father's potrait. After negotiating by himself, with himself he decided he would charge $100 for a protrait or $20 an hour. He added we would not have to pay if it wasn't suitable. We agreed to the terms. Jack and I played a couple of songs on our resptective harmonicas and I managed to get back to work for an hour. Not enough.
Not very tired but should be. I took my daughter to a 2 hour basketball practice in Portsmouth, NH and managed to sneak in some photography. I got several nice shots of the sun setting over the Mill Pond looking westerly.
I visited my dad at 1:30 today. We went for a 1.5 mile +/- walk. My father saw an old hey wagon on Woodbridge Road and immediately nocked on a neighboring door and he asked if it were for sale. A twenty something gentleman asked us to come inside where father found out he knew the owners mother and that the wagon was not for sale. The weather was great, 40's, not quite cold! Bright and sunny...spring is closer.
We walked back to Sentry Hill via Varrell lane from Woodbridge and passed Rita's house, Rita is my father's second wife. Divorced. Upon return to Sentry Hill we ran into Jack Lewis an artist at Sentry Hill who is 90 years old. He is very interested to paint my father's potrait. After negotiating by himself, with himself he decided he would charge $100 for a protrait or $20 an hour. He added we would not have to pay if it wasn't suitable. We agreed to the terms. Jack and I played a couple of songs on our resptective harmonicas and I managed to get back to work for an hour. Not enough.
3/25/2009
Yesterday after work I left the shop at 6:30 to visit my father. When I got to Sentry Hill he was getting ready to go to bed. I stood outside the closed door to his room and could over hear him talking with the aid. She told him to wash his face, his privates, put his t-shirt back on, put his teeth in a cup. He asked her what her name was. She said TD. He asked her last name and she said she didn't have one. That she was like Cher.
"What's that mean," he replied.
She said, "You know the singer?"
He said, "I guess so"
I still hadn't had supper when I heard him ask her for a hug and she said how about a high five. Then the door opened and she walked through. He stood in the doorway in underware and a t-shirt and was startled to see me. Immediately he smiled and said, "Oh, come on in Kev.
My father mostly only talks about himself. We chatted for a while and I offered to let him use my cell phone to call a women friend he has been trying to arrange to have dinner with this weekend. I dialed the numbers for him and he talked to her for about 20 mins. He didn't ask her any questions about herself. Like how was she, what had she been doing, how her 98 year old father was, nothing. I thought it was quite amazing, 20 mins all about Haven.
They had agreed it would be convenient for them to meet on Saturday evening, around 5:30 at York Hospital in the cafeteria. My father will be dependent on either myself or my sister giving him a ride.
I got up from the rocking chair I was sitting in and my father climbed out of bed and put his clothes back on that he had taken off for the day and he walked me out to the door. He thanked me for coming over by saying, "thanks for coming over Kev, even though it was late."
"What's that mean," he replied.
She said, "You know the singer?"
He said, "I guess so"
I still hadn't had supper when I heard him ask her for a hug and she said how about a high five. Then the door opened and she walked through. He stood in the doorway in underware and a t-shirt and was startled to see me. Immediately he smiled and said, "Oh, come on in Kev.
My father mostly only talks about himself. We chatted for a while and I offered to let him use my cell phone to call a women friend he has been trying to arrange to have dinner with this weekend. I dialed the numbers for him and he talked to her for about 20 mins. He didn't ask her any questions about herself. Like how was she, what had she been doing, how her 98 year old father was, nothing. I thought it was quite amazing, 20 mins all about Haven.
They had agreed it would be convenient for them to meet on Saturday evening, around 5:30 at York Hospital in the cafeteria. My father will be dependent on either myself or my sister giving him a ride.
I got up from the rocking chair I was sitting in and my father climbed out of bed and put his clothes back on that he had taken off for the day and he walked me out to the door. He thanked me for coming over by saying, "thanks for coming over Kev, even though it was late."
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
3/24/2009
Here I go! First, I have been working all day and need to eat something and then visit my Dad and then go home. I am hungry.
My dad is in a Alzheimer's unit in the beautiful coastal town of York, Maine. He is in Sentry Hill. He is a bright man with a bright crop of white hair. He gets lots of attention from lots of people. He has been at Sentry Hill for about 2 months. Although his memory has been suffering for many (mabye 10) years only recently has it been bad enough so that he questions his ability to live alone.
My dad is in a Alzheimer's unit in the beautiful coastal town of York, Maine. He is in Sentry Hill. He is a bright man with a bright crop of white hair. He gets lots of attention from lots of people. He has been at Sentry Hill for about 2 months. Although his memory has been suffering for many (mabye 10) years only recently has it been bad enough so that he questions his ability to live alone.
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