3-14-10 On his knees

Family It did not seem appropriate to take Dad out to church this morning and we went to the later service so did not have Dad over for lunch. I'm not sure if that will work any more anyway, but it could. So Linda and i went over this afternoon before i headed in to the hospital to provide night on call. When we arrived, Dad was at dinner and was having a bit of trouble so i helped him finish his desert. Another resident, Howard, said he found Dad on the floor in his room in the night and Tanya had to drag him out. Later Tanya said it was in the afternoon, not in the night. In getting that corrected, i failed to ask if she indeed had to drag him out. Howard also said Dad does not belong at Hoodview but at a place where they can better care for him, as it is too big a load for Tanya to do by herself. Interesting! I wished latter i had asked Mary Lou what her perceptions are in this regard. We eventually walked Dad to his room, which was a bit of a challenge but we made it. He said he had to go potty but when we walked in, he wanted to go through the room and out the other door. When i redirected him, he left the bathroom without using the toilet. Later he wanted to try again, had a very difficult time locating himself on the toilet and could not go once i got him properly seated. Dad was obviously in another time and place but we had a great time of singing hymns and reading scripture together. He would occasionally make statements that seemed incongruous to us but obviously responses to where he thought he was. As we sang, he would close his eyes and sing heartily. He picked up most songs by the second or third word. It was quite moving. Then, when we finished singing, we stood and he went to his mirrors and acted like he was leaving a meeting, church, or district assembly or something. We eventually redirected him back to his recliner. But instead of sitting, he knelt and began praying. I captured a picture of it. Eventually he stood, said good by and began praying again. Then he sat and i was able to hug and kiss him goodbye. i emailed the picture out since it is on my phone and i am at the hospital instead of at my computer, ie, the picture must first be put on my computer and then posted here, per my limited skills. The hospice nurse called me this morning and said that she is convinced Dad's changes up and down are not from med changes but from his advancing Parkinson's Disease (PD). She affirmed what we heard when Dad was first diagnosed: When managed well, PD often goes along with only minimal declind. Then things change and one can fail rapidly to a lower plateau or to death. She said he is not taking a case study pathway but doing it his own way, but she attributes all this to advancing stages of PD. I wanted to butt in and quote Dad, " Why be difficult when with a little effort you can be a real stinker." He certainly is being that!! Well, better go for now. Merv