It was in 2008 that my Dad was diagnosed with dementia and
so much has happened during those eight years. Of those eight years, the last
seven years have been here in California
where he has been under my care. Two years were spent living with my wife and
I, while the last five years have been at the Pine Ridge Care Center
Seven years ago I could carry on a conversation with my Dad
even though he had moments where he got confused or repeated his thoughts several
times over. Today there is no two-way conversation, just me talking to him with him staring back at me with the “I don’t know who you are” look.
However, as much as my Dad’s condition has worsened, he is
still David.
On my last visit with Dad, my sister conducted an informal
interview with Dad asking him a few basic questions, such as: What is your
name? Where are you from? Do you have children?
Observe his response to those questions in the following
short video:
As you can see he knows his name, where he is from, and
acknowledges that he has children. So deep down he knows he is still David.
In Other News
I met with Pine Ridge staff on May 6th at our quarterly
care conference meeting. Overall Dad’s health is fine. For the past year Dad
has maintained a weight between 142 and 150 lbs.
Dad’s main meal is breakfast, which he tends to eat
everything provided. He eats less at lunch and even less at dinner.
Most of all, Dad loves to have his back and shoulders
massaged. Recently Pine Ridge had a “spa day” for their patients and Dad loved
it! He enjoyed the massage while sipping on lemon water.
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| Taking a selfie with Dad |
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| Dad and his daughter Joyce |
Well I am glad he is close by, so his kids can go see him. He may not know us but I agree with you, he still knows he is David Manriquez from San Antonio Texas! Your blog is good just needs to be more regular, but you know that already. Keep up the good work
ReplyDeleteAwesome job as always Jay. I'm so glad that I am hear, better to actually see him, rather than trying to imagine his expression when I use to talk to him on the phone back in TX. The years sure have blown by. Thank you always for writing these blogs, I love em.
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