The Washing Hair Dilemma

As my Mom's disease keeps progressing getting her to wash her hair has become more of a challenge and have been made aware that her hair is well...stinky so I've been wanting to purchase dry shampoo but as a Full time Caregiver funds can be limited so I was so excited to see on groupon.com this morning that they are offering two bottles for $9 so I took advantage of that. Below is the link if you are interested. I'm going to tell my Mom that it is a special lotion to make her hair grow thicker since she has fine hair and always wanted thicker hair, let's hope for the best.

http://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-cortex-international-dry-shampoo?utm_campaign=UserReferral&utm_medium=email&utm_source=uu44505474

Tips for Thanksgiving

In past years we used to get together with lots of family members, being latinos you know that can get large.  We have started to just be my sister her kids, my Dad and myself because it's less distracting for my Mom.

I just read this article and wish I would have read this article years ago, hope this helps someone out:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/20/health/dementia-alzheimer-thanksgiving/index.html

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

A Caregivers job doesn't end at 5pm

A Caregivers job doesn't end after 8 hours, I was looking forward to my pjs, hot chocolate and football game. At least they didn't think I was the sick one this time, she is so adorable even when she's not feeling all well

The Flu Season is Upon Us

As we have entered flu season I made sure my Mom got her flu shot and this year I remembered to get mine too. Since I always seem to get the flu or pneumonia and even H1n1 one year i prepared myself with a emergency bag.

Since everyone has their own lives I can't expect for people to drop what they are doing to take care of me when I get sick so in my bag I put couple of bottles of gaterode, cans of chicken soups, crackers, extra bags and keep it near the stairs so I don't forget when I end up sick I also added some soup for my Mom that she likes so it will be easier for me to hear up when I'm not feeling well

Voting

My Mom has been a US Citizen for almost 40 years and is a true American she loves her adoptive country deeply and I recall her saying because it saw give birth to two of her daughters and gave her kids opportunities that we would not have had back in her home country of Ecuador.

I noticed the presidential election we had before she was officially diagnosed she had issues in her voting booth but I thought it was because they were using the computers for the first time because I was confused too. Once she was diagnosed I knew she still would want to do her American duty that she said many died to have so we started doing voting by mail. I already know what her way of voting was before and I observe her when she watches the news to see how she feels regarding a particular candidate or measure. I also try to catch her good days and we go over the ballot pamphlet but she does get tired, it takes us a good one month to get our ballots done but it worth it because I know I'm helping her still feel like she's doing her American duty

A typical Friday night for us

Playing her Leap Frog memory or flash card games is such a great way for my Mom to use her brain but it's also a nice bonding moment for us.

Dancing Queen

My Mom enjoys dancing and even though she gets tired when there are people around she seems to dance a bit longer which is wonderful for her brain but also to sleep better at night.