I gave myself a vacuum for Christmas!! Not precisely a fun thing: but a couple of years ago I got a new Eureka Boss vacuum that was highly rated on all the consumer sites. The thing DOES vacuum well, but you're not supposed to use it for kitty litter (it gets in the motor), the way the cord is designed it's ALWAYS in the way, and it is HEAVY. About 20 lb to carry around. So this time I got myself a little upright dust devil which is cordless and bagless and weighs maybe 5 pounds AND it vacuums kitty litter. It is definitely in the category of making things easy for ourselves. I highly recommend it.
briegull I may do the same. I have not been able to find a vacuum that will pick up kitty litter. I have all wood laminate or tile floors and hate crunching on grit.
this one has a floor and a carpet setting (carpet uses the rollers). I've found the carpet setting works better on plain floor.. It even worked well on the folly-of-the day mess: I gave granddaugher a popper which spewed shiny film ribbons and snippings everywhere. She did a good job of collecting the ribbons (to use another day) but the little snippings were a pain. Not quite on the level of glitter which multiplies when you leave it underfoot, but near it.
Ladies, try the dyson. i have one and i wouldnt ever buy anything else now. it picks up my dogs hair kitty litter anything in its path. its 460dol but if you have pets worth every bit. if you get a chance check it out and see it working in the stores. my SIL got one as soon as she got home after seeing mine for her 2 cats that shed so badly. she got hers at bed/bath/beyond with one of the 20% coupons they give out. its the best vacuum in my opinion bar none. Divvi
I bought a Bissell bagless about a year ago. I'm crazy about this thing. Picks up everything. I paid about $225 I think. Good machine. I bought this for myself. The other one I had was a good machine but so heavy I couldn't lift it. I have stairs and this one has a separate tool for stairs and it's very convenient.
hello all- i run an early stage support group for those with younger onset dementia (under 65) and their caregivers.it is shocking that there is little info and little support for these folks. the disease is all set up for the older population but there is so little for my folks. i would love to talk to people and to begin to maintain a file for folks like disability (including changes in the home for safety). i have even been told that disability agents tell people with dementia that they have a disability but can be retrained. am i the only one encountering these issues. anyone else have needs for this info? carol, crnp
Carol, scroll down on the left of the home page, and you'll see a pointer to a page of topics about EOAD. We have quite a few spouses on this board, and they do share with one another. The changes in the home for safety are the same for any age, just about and we've talked a lot about it on this board; use the search function at the top to look at content. I haven't heard about anyone saying people can be retrained; it sounds like someone doesn't want to pay for disability - which is a very state/community related issue.
carolfrank, are they nuts? One of the problems with dementia patients at the early stages is that they can't learn anything new. So how are you going to retrain them? And what good is it going to do? In a year or so they won't be able to do whatever you actually managed to retrain them to do in the first place?
My understanding is, from people who have written here, that if you go to the social security office with enough information they don't do the "can be retrained" thing. I wish I had personal info to help you with, but I know there are folks here who do have it.
I sometimes wonder if all these "things" that are supposed to help the AD patient if we are trying them to make things easier for the patient or for ourselves. I feel like we may just be delaying the inevitable. Of course if my DH was a lot younger maybe I would feel different
Jean, you ARE delaying the inevitable. It is much easier to live with a delayed inevitable. None of the things that currently exist will keep our LOs alive a single extra day. But some of them will keep their quality of life at a better place while they are alive.
Oh, I want to make things easier for ME, so I can keep the patient at home without getting so frustrated. T hat's why I titled this thread the way I did - making things easier for OURSELVES.
No question about it, it's easier to get my husband into pants that pull up. It's easier for the men to get wives into an undershirt instead of a bra, or kneehighs instead of pantyhose. I'm not young, and hauling a 20 lb vacuum up the stairs is not comfortable for ME. It's not delaying the inevitable, it's keeping US able to deal with it. Safety bars in the tub delay the need to have a home health aide around. Same with the stair glide.
I agree we need to make things as easy as possible for WE THE CAREGIVERS. The easier we have it the longer we can keep them at home. Keeping them at home until a certain impossible point is WAY easier for US than visiting them at a NH daily. We can lie on the couch or bed while we are home. Also, preserve expenses.
I would strongly recommend all of the caregivers to sign the loved up with Hospice as soon as they are elgible. You will be pleasently surprised how much they will help you to keep the LO home.
I have a widowed friend in a NH for 7 years at $5,000. a month. He has the funds and he didn't want to live with any of his children so he went there before he would have had to if he had 24/7 at home. With the funds he had he has the executive suite at the NH. His mind has been good until the past year.
I am thankful I don't have stairs to worry about and I have safety bars in the shower area.
Imohr, my house is one-story as well - and like you, I'm grateful that I don't have to worry about the stairs. I made things easier by having the key-lock door knob for the bedroom and key-lock deadbolts for the outside doors. Now we don't have to worry about him going outside in bad weather, or taking the trash to the curb two and three times a day! <grin> I bought him pullover long sleeved shirts for when he can no longer button his shirts. Most of the things I do to make my life easier to care for him I learned here at Joan's place! Thank you all again for sharing your advice!
Imohr, your widowed friend is indeed fortunate to be able to afford the NH. We are not well off, but as long as I work, I can have the help I have at home. I also have enough insurance on ME that if I die before my husband, my daughter will be able to afford to care for her dad until he passes away.
Mary, I hope you are able to keep on working. That is a blessing to get you out of the house and keep your mind refreshed. Even if you have to pay most of what you make for in home help. I would like to some day get back into some phase of work with the public, but after all this time out of the workforce it will have to be volunteer. Depending on the economy I may need to try and earn some money. I think we will be ok, but NH costs are out of sight.
I said to our orthopedist, who'd asked if our PCP had talked to me "about the future" that I knew what was likely to happen. I said, do you know how much nursing homes COST? and he said oh, about $2000/month.. I said, well, no, more like $5800/month. His eyes got round as saucers. REALLY?? yep! As I told him, a local eldercare lawyer said ALzheimer's is where the middle-class meets medicaid.
carolfrank, welcome to the group! Sorry I wasn't here to give you a big "hi" yesterday, life has been a tiny bit rough recently.
People who are telling you that AD patients can be retrained are not nuts. Several studies by Loewenstein, Camp and others suggest that early-stage AD patients can still learn new tasks and procedures, as well as new information. Most of the earlier studies focused on narrow skills training ("retraining" AD patients so that they have the skills to do activities that they have lost). More recently, researchers have started looking at broader cognitive measures. For example, the "BEST" study (Brain Enhancement Strengthening Treatment) showed that cognitive training therapies can slow decline and even help the AD patient regain some cognitive losses.
The summary in one paper on cognitive rehabilitation added that the retraining therapy for the ADLO can also "reduce caregivers' psychiatric symptoms." <grin> Which, I might add, makes this subject "on topic" for this "off topic" thread!
One of the methods that I've seen mentioned is called "spaced retrieval", and it's talked about very briefly in "Understanding the Dementia Experience" by Jennifer Ghent-Fuller. (The link to this is the picture of the lady in the life jacket with the yellow "help" sign on the home page.)
Sunshyne, there is a difference between cognitive therapy that gives someone with mild dementia some life skills to help with the early symptoms and training someone to work full time at a new job. My husband is probably one of the few people here who got any of that before he was diagnosed, and I'm convinced that the only part of it that stuck is why he can still sign his name. But that is a far cry from being able to hold down a job once someone is in the middle of Stage 5.
Starling, I would agree with you wholeheartedly. I just didn't see anything in Carol's post that implied to me she was talking about getting enough training to work full time at a new job. But then, I haven't dealt with disability agents.
Some of the people with EOAD who post over on the Alz Assoc site (gotta stop referring to it as "the other site" since I'm confusing too many people!) are still working, even as a tech in ER, with the help of their colleagues and some changes to their responsibilities.
And there's a program somewhere, I think Chicago, where early-stage AD patients are matched with organizations that need volunteers, and are trained to do the volunteer work. That has been going extremely well, from all reports.
All of that makes total sense, Sunshyne. I guess I'm taking it for granted that a "disability agent" is the social security office refusing to make payments. After all, my brother-in-law's refusal notice arrived on the day he died. He wasn't "sick enough" to get disability payments from social security. I just take it for granted that they are trained to say no at least once.
Going back to vacuum cleaners, I had a Dyson and loved it until I replaced carpet with wool. The manufacture wouldn't warrenty the carpet if you used a Dyson. I did a lot of research and if you have the money, I highly recommend the Miele. It is light weight, sucks up everything, and is very easy to use. I love it and would never go back, even to a Dyson if I didn't have wool carpeting.
So if we're going to talk vacuums here, and kitty litter, a word of warning. There ARE limits to how much kitty litter you can vacuum up!. The last time my husband tried to vacuum, I gather he decided to clean out the kitty litter box that way, or maybe he spilled most of it and tried to vacuum up the spill, I'm not sure. But the first I knew about it, I heard a BOOM and came running. The vacuum bag had gotten totally clogged and exploded. There was litter and dust everywhere ... huge clouds of dust, making it impossible to breathe, and coating everything in sight. You would not believe how long it took for the dust cloud to clear out, even with front and back doors open and every fan in the house on full-tilt.
Sunshyne, i am gagging and coughing just thinking of that mess.. nice try----- but i think i still win the contest of having poop mashed into white carpets over about a 500 sq ft radius..took me several hrs and then 3 days of additional carpet steaming to get it out.arrrrrrggggh!:)divvi
divvi, dearest, I wouldn't DREAM of trying to compete with you! <grin> Your husband is world champ when it comes to coming up with creative ways to keep you busy.
Isn't it the truth??? We always have coffee in bed in the mornings. Last year he spilled so many pots/cuts - finally had carpet taken out and put hardwood in. Since then, he hasn't spilled a thing UNTIL this morning! Ugh - but much easier to clean up!
I really treated myself this morning. Let the year end paper work file itself. I cleaned off my patio table and took the newspaper and a cup of tea outside to enjoy the Florida sunshine. Next project is to really clean out all the dirty flower pots and fallen leaves. So busy coping with crises that the world goes by without us.
Sunshyne, you are mere 'fledgling' yet in this AD journey:) give it time-mine cant be the only one here getting into constant mischief???? and we can compare at a later date...haha. yes, my DH is quite the creative one around here, thats why i call him the hooligan nowdays. thank goodness i was dealt a winning hand with regards to patience these days..:) Divvi
Oh Divvi.....when my husband was in his prime with this disease he was also a "hooligan". He could pee in the most creative places...he would put used toilet tissue in refrigerators and cabinets...he once "cleaned" my wood kitchen cabinets with Spic N Span....it was an experience....
Being his creative or atty self:) he has been extra hooliganish this week..everyone is saying how good he is looking and put on a few lbs which he needed.. he keeps me smiling most of the time and i take things with a grain of salt so to speak- and hes a lamb personality wise,-- hes feeling his oats and today hes been quite devilish. peed all over the folded clean towels in a basket yesterday and today the ice chest with ozarka waters chillin..:) imagine my face when i reached in for a refreshing iced bottle water, sigh....amazing he finds the oddest of places! i know, dont even say it!!!!! breathe, breath, Divvi........
Well, mine uses the pot MOST of the time (but wears Depends for the other times) but lately he's taken to wiping himself after peeing. TP around and around... then thow it in the toilet but it doesn't all unwind, so then he walks off and there's this trail...
Claude wipes himself after peeing IF he used the pot but will not wipe after a BM. He is also getitng very creative about his peeing spots. We have a commode beside the bed for nights. Nite before last, he moved the commode about five feet away and tried peeing standing up. Needless to say, his aim was off.......lol
Getting back to vacuums, our son bought me a Dyson a couple of months ago. It's the new one with the ball. I love it. We have laminate floors throughout the house now with area rugs. It's fantastic for both and is so easy to push.
The best vacuum I've ever had was my old Kirby. We had carpeting thruout the house then and dogs, and cats and kids....lol. It worked so well, but it was so heavy to push when I started having health problems.
redbud73086, like you, I've had a Kirby since 1970! Four kids and pets needed it! My third one is over 15 years old, and as you say, so heavy to push now. When I told my grown children that I was researching vacuums to get a new one, they all said that they had Dysons, and one daughter said she is buying me the new animal ball one! Guess that after it comes, I'll take the old Kirby to the Kirby store and see if they will give me anything for it, or there is a women's shelter where I can take it.
Back on topic, making things easy for ourselves.....
I just had leafguarded gutters put on the house since my husband can't clean them out any more, and I certainly can't get up there! And I have my yard mowed and edged for me so that I can devote my outside time in the spring and summer to my flower beds.
I just wish I could afford Molly Maids again to do my housework! That would definitely make my life easier!!!! After the cruise, I am thinking of maybe getting them to come every other week for the heavier cleaning. I've got to readjust my budget and see if I can work that in it. <grin>
I had a cleaning service in California that came once every 3 weeks. Every other week was too often for me, once a month not often enough. We started them when I was using a walker and basically couldn't do much of anything. I've been thinking about maybe getting someone in here on the same basis.
Starling and Mary, it is a great help. I have a lady come for 4 or 5 hours once a week or every other week. She also keeps my DH company while she is here. That is my time to go do something for myself. If she wasn't watching him 2 or 3 hours every other week would be good. Depends on how much you want done.
Speaking of retraining - in the early days of my husband's diagnosis, I was complaining that he just followed me around and it was driving me nuts. A friend, in all seriousness, suggested that I enroll him in a woodworking class! My husband and power tools? I think not! People don't have a clue that learning new things is not gonna work!
In RI a CNA is supposed to do "light housework" putting dishes into dishwasher or putting them away, vacuuming, sweeping, laundry, and my current one does, but she drives my husband CRAZY (and me too). But if you get a good match of someone you're having come in to do respite, it's not out of line to ask them also do do the light housekeeping, I think. At least it's worth the ask.
My DH qualifies for 9 hours of personal care/in-home help per week. This is spread over 4 days. The gentleman clears up the kitchen(dishes,stove,microwave, floor), gives DH a shower, runs 2 loads of laundry(I fold it and put most away, he does the rest), cleans the bathroom (all), takes DH with him when he does the grocery shopping on Wed. He also takes care of DH's room, changes bed, and empties commode as needed. Thurs. he makes sure we're cleared up heading into the weekend.
Last summer I finally qualified for 4 hours of personal care per week--2 hrs twce a week. One day we wash my hair, cook things(I'm not too good with stuff in the kitchen on crutches), and/or work on other clearing up, cleaning up projects that require a bit of muscle--sorting and cleaning stored papers, for example). The other day we used 45 minutes to manage a shower and shampoo, then she changed my bed, set my room to rights, and touched up any other cleaning or clothing care I need.
We are low income, and I am very thankful for this help. Before we qualified and got it set up, I had to do the best I could and that wasn't real good. Getting used to having the help, to having someone in 'my domain' was a challenge, but now it's a joy. Even though they don't deal with the nitty-gritty paperwork, scheduling, appointments, etc. having them do what they do lets me take care of all that with the peace of mind that everything will get done,and I won't burnout trying to be SuperCG for DH.
Here's a tip from Suzy Homemaker Ha! Once N Done did a good job on my tile but I didn't like having to keep separate mops and cleaners for the different surfaces in my house. I have been using WOW on my laminate floors and tried it on my tile-great job. Walmart carries it.
I found a product called a Posey Belt. Just Google it. I first seen a similar one at the Rehab Hospital. I think it is around $30, and a version could be made if you are good with a sewing machine. I also have the gait belt. The Posey Belt is better for up close lifting of the patient. It works very well with my 165# husband but might be difficult for someone over 200#.
Last night our electric was off for about an hour in the middle of the night and I discovered how well my emergency night light was. You can buy them at Lowe's or other hardware stores for around $10. You keep them plugged into a receptical and they only come on when the power goes off and will burn for 2 hours, I believe. When the power comes back on they will recharge and be ready next time your power goes off. I have one in DH bedroom and now am going to buy another one for the bathroom for emergency.
I had to throw out my Kenmore Vac after our Mold Disaster, we bit the bullet and got a Dyson, I LOVE IT! Only complaint is that it is a bit heavy and doesn't have a retractable cord, but it DOES PICK UP KITTY LITTER, DOG HAIR AND IS Awesome on the carpet as well as the hardwood.