JOAN’S WEEKEND BLOG – NOVEMBER 20/21, 2010 – PREPARING FOR AN ALZHEIMER’S THANKSGIVING

If you look to the left side of the website, you will see that my Holiday Stress Relief Tips are now up in the resource section. There is a lot of valuable, common sense information in the series, and I encourage everyone to read it. I am taking my own advice and preparing for a very low key Thanksgiving.

Since my father is now here with me in Florida, and needs 24 hour care, we will not be traveling to my sister’s in Chicago this year. Instead, my son will be flying in from San Francisco, and we will have a dinner for four.

Here is where we stand in my house. My father is in a wheelchair, and in the beginning stages of memory loss. My AD husband is in a perpetual fog; has almost no short term memory; possesses only simple concrete language comprehension skills; cannot make a decision; AND, after just having healed from a broken foot, is once again confined to a walker and wheelchair due to a broken knee. That translates to – Joan does everything for everyone all of the time. Therefore, Joan, who used to cook up a huge Thanksgiving meal completely from scratch, is taking major shortcuts. Diner’s Choice garlic mashed potatoes are ready made, and delicious. Bag steamed green beans are as good as fresh. Publix Supermarket makes great cakes and brownies. No one can compete with my stuffing (according to all of my relatives), so that will be my one big cooking adventure. My son’s job was always to chop the vegetables for the stuffing, and he will be doing so again this year.

It truly is not the food; it IS the company. I am beyond excited to have my son here with us. He has not seen his Grandpa in 5 years. Both will be overjoyed to see one another. Sid cannot travel to San Francisco anymore, so having our son fly here means the world to him.

Our son has not seen Sid in a year.  He is quite perceptive and notices everything, so I will be curious to hear his opinion on his father’s condition. Interestingly, he recently told me that he was more worried about me than his Dad. He feels that there is nothing that can be done for Sid, but he doesn’t want me to die of stress and exhaustion before this ordeal is over. He thinks I should “chill out” more, and not let Sid’s repetitive questions and confusion irritate or upset me. We shall see if his tune changes after spending almost a week under the same roof with us.

I am off to do more grocery shopping, because even though I said it is not about the food, we cannot have Thanksgiving dinner without it, now can we?

I hope you are able to do as I am doing – cook as little as possible and keep things quiet and calm. Both you and your spouse will benefit.

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