Celebrations

Besides Mom's birthday August 28th, Scott celebrated his 48th B-day the following day - August 29th.  Scott, Dad, Les and I enjoyed dinner at the Griffin Pub in honour of the birthday boy.

AND, Today, August 31st, is Mom and Dad's 51st Wedding Anniversary - as Mom would say...Happy Happy!

Happy Birthday Dianna

August 28th is Dianna's birthday. Last year we celebrated it in the hospital while waiting for a bed in a nursing home for her. The call and invite to go to Cumberland Lodge came a few days later. Dianna would celibrate this birthday at the Lodge where she has been ever since.
She is comfortable within the Lodge which is now her home.

For her birthday I wanted to give her something special and so I decided she might enjoy a pedicure. I arranged to be with the lady who would do the pedicure to make sure Dianna would be receptive and have some awareness that this was a special birthday present for her. During the process, which went very well, Dianna alternated between sleep and awake. She couldn't see but she could feel the lady massaging her feet and touching her toes.As it turned out, she quite enjoyed all this touch and even though she couldn't see what was happening.She now has pink sparkly toenails which I will show her sometime when she is more alert.

At lunch the staff and residents sang Happy Birthday to her and I had tied two balloons to her chair. Dianna now seemed to have a greater awareness of the fact that it was her birthday.

During lunch I was told that one of Di's paintings received honorable mention at the Comox Valley Fall Fair and was on display with other Lodge entries on a table in the main hall. This was a pleasant surprise and went to have a look at it after I had taken Di back to her room. While admiring it Scott came in with coffee and flowers for Dianna from Lisa, Les, Lynn, and himself. Dianna was pleased too see him and as we chatted over coffee became more alert and also participated in our conversation.

It was tough to leave her but both Scott and I had other things we had to do. We left promising to return the next day.

Summer events

It's amazing how time flies. It seems only a short while ago that Kevan came to visit; he was great with her even though she couldn't place him at first but as is often the case with Dianna somewhere during his visit she recognized him. Glad that he took the time to see us.

In early August I flew back to Ontario to attend my brothers memorial. While there were some sad moments I did spend 4 days with my sister Marie. She is one great hostess and I treasured this short visit. Steve's memorial also gave me opportunity to connect with Jennette and family.

I then stayed with Kevan and Tab for the remainder of my visit. Kevan treated me to a day at the Rodgers Canadian Tennis Championship. In spite of their busy schedule of house building they were the great hosts they always are.

Shortly after I arrived back Dianna's brother, Doug, with Suzi, arrived from Florida via Calgary and Edmonton. He spent a few days with Paul and Vicky (Dianna's brother and sister) before flying here. Over a 3 day period they visited Dianna; sister Linda joined them on the last day. Dianna was delighted to see them and, I think surprised them with her demeanor and exuberance.  I too enjoyed their visit. Next time you must stay longer Doug and I hope it's not a whole year before we see you guys .

Dead At Noon

Hi everyone, this morning as I was sitting with a cup of coffee watching the news, a story caught my attention.  I woman from Bowen Island by the name of Gillian Bennett took her own life - she had dimentia.  She told her story about her decision to commit suicide and about her life, in a blog called 'dead at noon'. I'm still processing and have had a good cry - I'm not sure what to think or feel.

God bless you and your family Gillian with an abundance of Love, Joy and Peace!!

If you'd like to read Gillian's Blog, here it is:

http://www.deadatnoon.com/index.html

God Love Ya!

I went to see Mom after work today. She had just finished her dinner and was sitting quietly in the dining room.  When she saw me, she uttered another familiar greeting - 'God love ya!'  After a short visit in the dining room, I wheeled her back to her room.  Sitting on the bed and pulling Mom close to me, I sat holding her hands and relished our time together.  She was quite talkative and at one point told me she was concerned about me. I knew that would be about all I'd get from her and reassured her I was ok, that we were all ok and that she had nothing to worry about.  On a few occasions, our peaceful visit was interrupted with bouts of agitation where something seemed to be frightening to her - a hallucination of some kind. She screwed up her face and shouted something I couldn't understand. Ten seconds later the stress was gone and she was smiling.  I wonder what she sees, thinks and feel.  I pray she feels at peace as often as possible, safe and not too lonely.  And that she knows how much she is loved.   See you soon Mom...

Dianna's indomitable spirit

Mom's verbal communication is very poor now. Occasionally she'll say a word or short phrase that I recognize, but most of the time her chatter is incoherent and she is very soft spoken, to the point now where I can barely hear her at times. Despite this, Dianna's indomitable spirit continues to shine through. Connecting with Mom through spirit is the way in which we communicate now... a look or facial expression, a smile, a touch or an inner knowing that you are understood and loved. These are gifts that not even Alzheimer's can steal away. I hope you can see what I mean through these pictures...

There you are

I've been staying in Comox this past week while Dad visits his family back east, and have had several good visits with Mom. The first time she saw me which was last Wednesday, she said to me 'there you are'! as if she was expecting me.  Relief washed over me knowing in my heart that she still recognizes me.