Catching up

Dad's back at Sunrise now. He's in the Alzheimer's unit. Yesterday he was released from rehab. We all took him out to lunch at Olivia's and then back to his room. When we were going into the building Dad fell. He was distracted by the shuttle bus which had just pulled up. He got a lot of coaching on his walking when he was in rehab. We've tried to continue that. We'll remind him to stand tall, let his arms hang at his sides and to pick up his feet. He resents this and usually will either get bratty and make a joke or he'll get nasty. Or sometimes he'll accept it. But soon he forgets and it's back to stooped shuffling with his hands clasped behind his back.

Dede spent the night with him the other night. She said he woke up and didn't know who she was. She kept trying to explain to him that she was his daughter and told him the facts of his life. She told him about Dolores and his kids. He got angry and said, "How do you know this information?" She kept trying to explain. He said, "Don't call me Dad." That's the first time we've seen that. The next morning he was fine.

I don't feel at all confident that he'll do well at Sunrise. Their staff is very good but no one will be with him 100% of the time. His anger is always just below the surface and he's prone to falling. But it's too soon to tell. We have to let him go through this transition. Maybe he'll mellow out a bit once he's been there a while. I'm not optimistic. I think he's going to take a bad fall and either hit his head or break a hip. He has an appointment with Dr. Griffin next week. I hope I can get some time alone with her. It's too hard to talk to her with Dad in the room.

Other stuff...

On Tuesday Jeff, Bill and Liam came over for some uke-ing. We had fun but I think we need to be better organized. My voice is still pretty weak so I couldn't sing much. Liam brought pizza (Thanks, Liam!).

Dad's dog, Lady, is driving us nuts with her barking. She's deaf so you can't tell her to shut up. When I go outside she comes bounding up just as happy as can be. I've been bringing her inside when she barks but the other night when I brought her in she kept barking. Time for the shock collar.

I'm moving in little by little. I'll be so glad when I can start painting these walls. I guess it's a good thing that I can't start right away because it gives me more time to think about colors. My ideas are getting more crazy and vivid. Hoo boy, it's gonna be fun. I'm going for mid-century modern/psychedelic folk art/eclectic. Ok, I know how it sounds but you should see what it looks like in my head. It's FABULOUS!