uneventful

Bob came over for thanksgiving today, I messed with him by answering the door and saying "why are you here?" Dinner was Enchiladas, Mexican rice, and re-fried beans. There was minor complaining about the cave of wonders, but he is not going down there anymore until it cools off.

I did tell him that the child support case against him is now closed.

He also mentioned that his sound on his computer was not working. I told him to check the speakers were turned on, if they were and still no sound I would log in remotely and look at it.

He called later and said the speakers had been turned off.

Oops

My dad stopped by today for the normal Sunday "thanksgiving" dinner, too bad today is Saturday.

Stupid Freecell (shudder)

Another week goes by and it's "thanksgiving" again. Today I made meatloaf, Mashed potatoes, gravy, and broccoli (blech).

My back was killing me (again), and Bob showed up a little early. He starts off the conversation with "so what's new and exciting" (he always says this), There is never anything very exciting to talk about. While I was making the food, he asked me "Where did you get the freecell program?" ಠ_ಠ sigh™ not this again!

See Bob's computer was infected with the crytpowall virus and instead of wiping it and reinstalling windows xp, I installed windows 7. Bob complained that it was missing the games, including freecell (shudder). So I installed freecell (shudder) (it's part of windows).

"It's part of windows" says I. "Oh" says he, (we have had this discussion about 20 times), "well I was playing it the other day, and I played it for 2 hours straight, and only won once". ಠ_ಠ

freecell (shudder) is one of the easiest solitaire games to play, statistically you should be able to win 90% of the games dealt by the computer. I have played it and can win 70% of the time, not Bob though...

Bob thinks the game is different from the one on windows xp, because he claims he could win it almost all the time, and now he can't. Since I cannot fire up his old OS and see what the settings were in the game, I do not know why it was "easier". It may be that he was playing it, and getting the same hand dealt to him each time (who knows). I have looked at the settings in windows 7, and do not know what would make it super easy.

I have sat down with him and played the game (in front of him), and when the cards are dealt, if the aces are not all near the top of the piles he claims the game cannot be won. The problem is that I have played such games all the while he is telling me I am wasting my time, and then he is absolutely shocked when I win. He thinks the game is played with 4 decks of cards and I have never been able to convince him that it is played with 4 suites of cards but only one deck. Even when showing him an actual deck of cards he does not get it. This all happened over several "thanksgivings", and a few visits to his apartment.

So he started up with the same thing about it being different and all the same old stuff, and since my back was killing me, the kitchen was hot, I lost it, and told him to stop talking about it, I don't care, I can't make it work the way he thinks it will work and so on. So there was a 15+ minute awkward silence.

we ate dinner, minor family gossip was discussed, and then my wife made him some to go dinners. He talked (again) about when he was a little kid in East St. Louis and how and when and why he moved here, mentioned that he had a dog named snooksy and a cat named (I can't remember).

A few minutes after eating he said "well I guess I will get out of your hair" (he always says this). There followed more talk about things that he has talked about before. He spent 5 minutes trying to tell me about the way he gets to our house so that he does not get lost. Something about the Antennas to the east and the buildings he can see to the west. Then he went home.

I guess you had to be there

Earlier today I stopped by Bob's apartment to drop off a check. I looked for the screw drivers he swore up and down was not in his apartment. Well he saw me looking through stuff and asked what I was doing, I told him and he said "Oh, those were right were you said they were in a desk drawer". ಠ_ಠ

I talked with him for a bit, the apartment was warm and his computer cooling fan was at full speed, he said he had turned off the AC because "he gets cold". 2 weeks ago he was complaining it was too warm in the apartment. ಠ_ಠ

There was more complaining that "they" had just piled stuff in the cave of wonders willy-nilly, and he's too weak to move things. I let him know I'm not throwing my back out again. After a while I tried to make good my escape, but just as I was leaving he had to show me something.

He had 2 covered hopper cars that said southern pacific (or something) on them in red, and he had to tell me that in real life all the printing on the cars was in red, but for some reason lionel had put these out with black lettering for everything but the road name.

Then he had to show me a pacific fruit express refrigerated box car that was silver. he proceeded to explain how an old timey refrigerated box car works because I already know; "These doors on the top open up and they dumped big blocks of ice inside", "see the real one was made of aluminum HA HA, and aluminum and water don't mix, AH AH AH HA!, and so the water would melt too fast HA HA AH AH HA! and the cars just corroded and fell apart! HA HA HA!" My dads laugh sounds similar to a crows call so... Then he had to tell me that they only made 3 of the aluminum cars in real life and they were sequentially numbered. ಠ_ಠ

Nose bleeds and Disneyland

Bob just called me, he told me that he had another bloody nose, he had gone down to the cave of wonders and brought back about 2 dozen books. He started the call as usual with "are you at home", segwayed in to his books, which led to him finding a book on disneyland, which led to him talking about going to disneyland with a former girlfriend and another trip with one of my sisters. He then went back to talking about his bloody nose, and a complaint about the doctor sending him an email that he needed to call them, but he can never get them on the phone. He does not know how to navigate the phone system.

While I was typing this he rambled on about how "they" had stacked the boxes and he can't find anything at the cave of wonders. I attempted to tell him to see the doctor about his bloody noses, but he got all irritated that he knows he should not be having them, there followed another retelling of how someone (he doesn't remember who) showed him how to stop nose bleeds.

I've got something to show you

"I've got something to show you" A phrase I hear a lot, often followed by irrefutable evidence of nothing to get worried about.

Today Bob showed up with some cream for the scaly skin on his leg (mmm boy!). He wanted to show me that the small tube that was prescribed to him was only good for 2 days and how this was ridiculous to him. I guess he was expecting a half gallon of the stuff.

I suggested that he just use it, get the prescription refilled and when it runs out see what happens. If the condition comes back he could just contact the doctor again. This engendered a sigh. He also complained that while the cream cost him $15 the real price was $50. Apparently in Bob's world medicine comes in costco sized tubs, cost nothing, and heals you in one treatment.

There was also talk of him going down to the cave of wonders and not being able to find both of his lionel operating magnetic cranes, how he bought one a long time ago and he got the other one from someone he knew just before he moved down here. The guy sent it to him to fix (or something) and died, so he got it for free.

Shower Chair

Bob had a shower chair at his old apartment, and it sat in his closet for 2 years without being used. We had a second one that I was using as something to sit on when I was painting my work room. The problem was that it was not meant for my weight, and the legs started bending.

When we moved Bob we donated both chairs. Not a week later he told me he needed it... sigh™. I suggested he check at walgreens, but they wanted $40 for one.

Today I found one at Goodwill for $6, it looks brand new. I was going to go over and deliver it to him later today, but while I was making my lunch the door bell rang twice, as it is want to do when Bob shows up.

He had just come back from a Doctors appointment, and stopped by on his way to pick up some prescriptions. 1 for his tummy aches, and one for the dry skin on his legs.

He did not stay long, he "drained his radiator", picked up his mail, and took the chair home with him.

Thanksgiving and Downsizing

Yesterday was the weekly dinner with my dad (we call it thanksgiving), where I evaluate his mental state, and also makes some food for him, since he has a very boring diet. Not much interesting happend except that he repeated several stories, repeatedly.

Today he called me and stated that "he was probably going to get rid of about 2/3 of his books". The next time there is a train meeting he wants to sell as many as he can. We'll see if he sticks to that.

Desktop Confusion

Bob called me today. As usual he asks if I am at home. Why this matters I am not sure. Then he forgot why he called. Then he remembered. He had given me a list of the trains he has so that I could scan them and convert them back to a word document after he got the crytpowall virus and the original was encrypted.

I told him it was on his desktop of his computer. I knew immediately that he was not understanding what I meant. I tried to access his computer but noted that it was not on. I asked him if his computer was on as he won't be able to open the document if it is not. It was then that he realized what I meant by "on his computers desktop". He turned on the computer and I got in, in view only mode. He did not know how to print. At first I thought this was because of his memory, but then realized his computer now has Office 2007 and that stupid ribbon. I explained to him how to print and warned him that his new printer will print very quickly. There was the usual number of "hold ons" while he came up to speed as to whether the printer was on or not.

He was highly amused at how fast it printed, all his past printers were old HP deskjets, the new one is a laser printer. He then told me that the trains he was looking for were right were I said they would be down at the cave of wonders. He reported that he had a heck of a time carrying the box up to his apartment as it weighed a ton (maybe 30 pounds).

I did not bring up the screw driver set since I did not want to be on the phone for an hour.

Losing things that are not lost

I didn't hear from Bob all day yesterday. It was like a vacation, or would have been had I not had to go to urgent care for my back pains.

Today Bob stopped by and brought with him his MTH TIU. He said that it did not work and may have a blown fuse. When I pulled it out of the bag he had it in, it smelled like something might have burned up. I opened it up and checked all the fuses. All fuses were ok. I looked it over under a magnifying glass and did not find a problem.

While I was looking at it, Bob asked if I liked the screw driver that was in the bag. I did not care one way or the other. Seems he went out and bought a new set of screw drivers because he could not find the set that he had from before.

I know what set he was talking about. I used it several times since he moved in to the new apartment. I suggested he look on top of his bookcase as that was one of the places I saw it last. He looked confused about this. He said that he did not think that the screw drivers had made it out of his old apartment. This time he did not accuse "they" of losing or tossing it.

I then told him that not only was it at his new apartment, but that he had personally handed it to me the day he moved in. I then told him all the places I had seen it. He still looked confused and did not believe me. He kept saying "you mean at the old apartment?", NO this apartment. I reiterated that it is probably on top of his bookcase. He said "I hope your right". sigh™. What I think happens is that he looks for something, then half way through forgets where he has looked or thinks that he has looked some place when he has not.

He also told me he was having stomach problems and diarrhea for the last day or 2. He may have caught what James passed on to several people in my family.

I recommended that he double check the wiring of his layout, and of course he said that he had done that (which means he probably did not).

He also told me he had gone down to The Cave of Wonders (my new name for his storage unit), and that some trains he saw the day I hurt my back were "nowhere to be found" I suggested a possible location to look, and changed the subject.

Thankfully my Physical Therapist and Doctor don't want me hauling stuff around so I have a  great excuse not to go on another expedition to the cave of wonders.

EDIT:A few minutes after I posted this, he called and said that the layout is working, but the screw drivers are not where I said they might be. I reiterated that they are there somewhere and the next time I go there I will find them. He said he "can't believe they are there", because "he looked everywhere". Which of course he hasn't because if he had, he would have found them.

OW! my back!

Today Bob went down to storage to begin moving books back in to his new apartment. He was supposed to call me and let me know when he was going there so I could meet him. He did not. Around 9:00am I went there and he was rooting through everything pissing and moaning that nothing was where it should be and "they" had put things where they don't belong, "They" would be me and my brother, and we put things where he told us to, and later on he and I moved them while looking for something he was obsessing over several months ago.

He was getting irritated that the boxes (while numbered) were not in order. He forgets that we had to move them to storage in a hurry because he was being forced to move out of his old apartment. He's lucky they were numbered and in any kind of order.

He also forgets that he personally told us where to put the boxes at the time.

He has this strange dichotomy of "I have Alzheimer's and can't remember shit", and "I know what I know!".

He also gets distracted because he is constantly finding things he "forgets about", and wants to show me all about it, even though he has done this many times before and I have seen the items dozens of times. He gets irritated when I tell him he has already show it to me many times.

The big "problem" today was that his drafting table was in the way. The drafting table had been taken apart and turned upside down and placed on the books (by him) several months ago. He no longer wanted it and so I suggested that we move some boxes, slide it out and put it in his truck to be taken to Goodwill.

In the process of moving it I tweaked my back!

We loaded it up and then he was done for the day because the long sleeve shirts he insists on wearing made him hot and sweaty. No books were loaded at this time.

While writing this he showed up at my home asking for a couple of pens because he could not find any at Fry's. Which means he did not look very hard, and did not ask anyone.

The storage unit (or Aladdin's cave).

Bob has a storage unit, unlike many storage units his does not contain common junk, his contains his obsession.

He has had several storage units in the past in the different places he has lived, and they have cost him more than the stuff in them is currently worth. He once stored a fire truck for 10+ years at a cost of $230 per month. He bought the fire truck for $1000, put $9000 in to fixing it up, and stored it at cost of about $27600, when he moved I had to sell it, and only got $2000 for it.

His current storage unit holds several hundred pieces of MTH trains and rolling stock, some Lionel, and misc or railroad related items, like books, etc.

He also stores a large amount of die-cast metal firetrucks and other vehicles. Many of which (as he puts it) "are hard to find anymore!". They are hard to find because I know a grumpy old guy who's hoarding them in his storage unit.

To give you an idea of the stuff he used to have before he moved, here is the old storage unit:

And the fire truck he kept in there as well.

Yes it all fit in there "like a glove".

The post, the First.

This blog is to chronicle my adventures and travails with my dad.

My dad has been diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. He has also had a few... we'll call them "micro strokes". The strokes have not left him paralyzed or anything like that, but may be a factor in his ability to think and remember. He is now in his 70's.

My dad was a draftsman at Sperry Flight systems for about 15 years. Because of a very messy divorce he left Sperry and had several jobs, he once worked for Boeing.

His name is Bob, he lives alone and is for the most part independent. He has some problems with short term memory and as such his spacial awareness and other cognitive functions that are dependent on his short term memory are affected.

This blog will meander back and forth with historic information as well as modern anecdotes of our time together. Although it may be written as humorous, it will illustrate how the decline of someone with these conditions, and at some point might help someone see the early signs of problems and get someone else help.