Finally Success
As a gift recipient, Lyn is next to impossible to please. She may not like the color or texture of something. She may not know why she doesn't like something which previous indications would lead you to believe she would love. In previous years, a number of gifts I've given her have been rejected and some even returned to me. It is frustrating but comes with much laughter.
This year was a successful year for giving gifts to Lyn. She loved the thermal pajamas we sent her in two different colors. She liked the print pattern and decided that the fabric was soft enough.
Mom gave her a Star Wars shirt as well as a wind-up Storm Trooper. She was paling with the Storm Trooper when I spoke to them on the phone.
One of Lyn's team gave her a handmade winter beanie with a hole at the top so she can pull her pony tail through. The giver let Lyn pick out the colors and Lyn loves the hat. Hopefully, she'll wear it too.
She was also excited that Santa left her a pack of drawing paper which was something she had told him she wanted.
Despite coming down with a cold and generally feeling quite poorly, Lyn had a good Christmas.
This year was a successful year for giving gifts to Lyn. She loved the thermal pajamas we sent her in two different colors. She liked the print pattern and decided that the fabric was soft enough.
Mom gave her a Star Wars shirt as well as a wind-up Storm Trooper. She was paling with the Storm Trooper when I spoke to them on the phone.
One of Lyn's team gave her a handmade winter beanie with a hole at the top so she can pull her pony tail through. The giver let Lyn pick out the colors and Lyn loves the hat. Hopefully, she'll wear it too.
She was also excited that Santa left her a pack of drawing paper which was something she had told him she wanted.
Despite coming down with a cold and generally feeling quite poorly, Lyn had a good Christmas.
I don't know if you've seen the Memory People Facebook page, but I thought their recent post was excellent:
ReplyDeleteMade it through another holiday. But have one more to contend with. Try to envision the chaos that goes on Christmas morning everywhere.
Families gathering, dinner plans, presents to open, kids having the times of their life.
Now, envision having dementia. Where anything more that two people is a crowd. Where you have a hard time understanding a conversation with your spouse, let alone a room full of people.
These people who are family, could very well be strangers to the dementia patient. Their surroundings could be all wrong. What is going on is very much out of their routine.
All which causes stress and anxiety for the patients. Severe stress and anxiety. Everything that is going on, and nothing is normal.
There are more plates and chairs at the dinning room table. There are six, eight, even ten more people then there should be here.
And the chaos that goes one when it comes time to open the presents, what used to be a joyous occasion, now strikes fear in the dementia patient.
I consider myself to be in the mid stages of this journey. Like all patients, I have good days, and bad. I have good hours, and bad.
But I do have a routine. Every patient does, whether you know it or not. And the chaos that happens at Christmas time is just that for the dementia patient, chaos.
Being in the mid stage, I can still excuse myself from the situation. I go outside, try to clear my head. I do this several times. Other patients don't have that ability.
Not only can they not get away from this chaos, they many times can't even explain what is happening to them to their loved ones.
I tell people all the time how holidays are very difficult of patients. This may not be true for each and every patient, but the vast majority of them, holidays are very difficult.
Here's a scary thing to think about. Say your Mother who was diagnosed several years ago, and lives with you. Then comes Christmas morning or afternoon.
Everyone begins to arrive. But Mom's alright. How do you know that? Because she is sitting in her chair, just being content. Not interacting with anyone, but she looks and acts content.
Is she? Inside she may be having a massive meltdown. When anxiety starts, for me it starts days before the holiday. Mom may look at ease, but inside she could be scared to death...
To read the rest of the post, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/180666768616259/
I was previously a member of Memory People and found it very informative when I first joined. This is a good post from them. Thank you for sharing the link for us all.
ReplyDelete