Doctor’s appointments for my father this morning. I got to their house at 8:25—planning to leave around 8:30 and they hadn’t had breakfast yet. I tossed some Cheerios at them and managed to get them out of the house close to on time. Dad seemed confused as to where we were going. Met with his gerontologist first, who overall I like pretty much. Today I realized how much I need to be there at appointments at this point. My mom just doesn’t catch everything and of course dad pretty much dozed through the whole appointment–although he got a few quips in here and there. The doctor said she feels that due to a combination of factors, his high education and his history of brain surgeries among them, that she thinks he will probably deteriorate quite quickly. She also said that the bowel problem might not be completely caused by his medication but also by the Alzheimer’s. We don’t seem to be talking ‘early stages’ any longer.
Also saw his neurologist whom I liked but I gotta say I think his other doctor is more on top of everything in terms of the Alzheimer’s medication, etc. Anyway—except for the Alzheimer’s he is quite healthy. He continues to lose weight but going off some of his medication may help his appetite. They’re taking him off one of his Alzheimer’s medications (which is for early stages) to see if it helps the side effects. He will continue on the other medication which is for moderate/severe Alzheimer’s. The doctor suggested adult day care but nodded understandingly when I
told her I didn’t think my father would stand for it….in discussing
dad she did refer to him as having an ‘unusual personality’… Damn right!
I also asked the doctor to give mom a blood test to see how her blood levels were as she’s been exhausted again. So it was a busy morning. I rolled into work just in time for lunch and doubt that it will go down as my most productive day ever.
All I can say at this point is…..there’s a new Gilmore Girls on later this evening.