Geriatrics

This morning was Dad's appointment with the geriatric doc. The meeting went well and we both liked her. At first, Dad talked to her a lot about his cataracts. She doesn't really have much to do with that but she updated his info on the computer so their system will keep moving the process forward. Dad's blood pressure is much better (133/75) so they can go ahead and schedule the surgery. The eye clinic is closed right now because they're moving into a new building. We can try to get an appointment after Monday.

Then we started talking about Dad's AD. She'd ask him some questions and then look at me to see if he was answering honestly, which many times he wasn't. This made me like her a LOT. When I was telling her about Dad's stumbling he made a motion against his lips meaning I shouldn't share that with her. He did it again when I was telling her about Dad having trouble handling his finances. I said, "No, Dad, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to tell her everything." She jumped on him and told him that now is not the time to hide things and that she was there to help him. We talked about managing his meds and getting his diabetes under control.

She left the room briefly to get the nurse to come in and test his blood. While she was out he started telling me I was sharing too much information. I told him I'm not going to play games and I'm not going to lie AND I'm going to tell my siblings that he's doing this. That pissed him off but he had to hold it together because the doctor came back in.

His blood sugar was at 330. He said he had taken his meds this morning but after we got home he called me and said he found this morning's diabetes pill in his pocket. No wonder his blood sugar was so high!

The doctor told me I need to manage his meds and make sure his blood gets tested regularly. Tomorrow morning we're going to a class so he can learn how to use this new testing device they're going to give him. She gave me a log to record the numbers in. He started to grab it but she yanked it away telling him it's now my job.

I'm going to create some kind of log that will keep track of his meds, vitamins and blood sugar tests all in one book. I'll have to keep it at our house because if Dad has access to it he will write all over it and screw it up.

Just a little bit stressed right now.