Vascular Dementia was what Ray was diagnosed with in 2006.  He had had five strokes by then and a lot of brain damage.  His dementia did slow his thought process down but we  handled it okay.  I learned that I could put a thought into half a dozen different ways so if he did not understand me the first time I kept rephrasing until he did.  I used the same method with things I wanted him to do, ask...have a break...ask again.  In the end of course the TIAs, seizures and fits predominated and the dementia was just another problem to add to the list.

Persevere with your Dad, the routine is important, good food, exercise and sleep is important.  Keep your cool around him as much as you can and remember to tell him how much you love and appreciate him while he can still understand the meaning behind your words.

Thanks Sue. I just have to work on myself to not worry about tomorrow. At least now I can stop hoping every day that he will be back to the way he was, this has definitely made my husband and me be more cognizant of our food and health choices.

Today was a good day. We were really busy at work. I started having a migraine after lunch. I had to take a max all and it got me through the rest of the day. I got my teeth cleaned after work then went to Burger King for mama and daddy. They seemed to be doing very well when I got over there. Daddy had already filled up the bird feeder. They seemed excited that a cardinal had been eating their food. I read the devotion. I asked daddy if he had had any bad dreams and he said no. I told him I have to work Saturday so Robbie will take him to the barber tomorrow or Friday. I told them Brett is going to take mama for her infusion Friday afternoon. One of my aunts is going to stay with daddy. I haven't worked out Saturday mornings medicine coverage yet. I may see if Robbie cab do it. I am going to use family medical leave to take daddy to the neurologist and mama to the primary care doctor Monday. Daddy has a cardiology appointment Tuesday afternoon in Searcy. I may take leave to cover that visit. This is going to be a very busy doctor month. I am currently snuggled with the Weimaraner's because it is super cold tonight. Hope everyone stays warm tonight.

I belong to Talking Point an English site run by their Alzheimers Society and found that helpful during Ray's journey with vascular dementia.

http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/forum.php

Have a look at it , type in vascular dementia and see how many threads come up.

I used to belong to an Aussie site and an American site and they were both closed down.

Sue.

Thank you so much I will check it out tonight after work.

I thought today was a good day until I talked to Robbie. She said daddy was doing really good until a little before lunch. He started getting anxious and agitated. He wanted out of the apartment. Robbie took him walking. After lunch Robbie took mama and daddy to cabot to see the grandbaby. My sons grandfather-in-law took daddy running around on errands. ,daddy seemed to really enjoy it. Mama was stressed the entire time they were gone. Robbie took them back to the apartment and some of their friends from McCrory stooped by. I picked up their groceries on my way home from work. I thought daddy was going to help me cook stir fry but he wasn't interested. His memory was good tonight and he was calm while I was there. He and mama both ate very good. They had chicken stir fry, brown rice and fruit. They topped it off with a skinny cow ice cream. I think I have the next few days worked out. The hubs is taking mama for her infusion treatment tomorrow at uams. My aunt is staying with daddy. My other aunt is sending over dinner. I am getting my hair done and will do meds once I am done. We have mandatory work Saturday so Robbie will go by in the morning to do meds. We plan to go to church Sunday but we aren't sure about the weather. They are calling for ice. Monday and Tuesday of next week will be busy with doctors appointments for both mama and daddy. I am so excited the neurology appointment is finally here.

Daddy had a good day today other than having an upset stomach. Mama had to put him back in diapers. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Mama got her infusion this afternoon. Hopefully, she won't have any of the bad side effects. One of my aunts stayed with daddy while the hubs took mama in for the treatment. I finally got my hair cut and colored. It was way overdue. One of my aunts cooked dinner so that was nice. I was so excited not to have to cook tonight. Tomorrow is a work day. Robbie is going to do morning meds. I am trying to figure out what I am going to do if we can't get to mama and daddy's sunday. They are calling for ice. We may have to drive the jeep.

I had to work today so Robbie went by to do meds this morning. Daddy was still sick with an upset stomach. It is very difficult getting mama and daddy to understand what to eat and not eat when you have a stomach bug. He ate some stuff he shouldn't have this morning and paid the price. I sopped at the store on my way to the apartment and stocked up on soup, applesauce, jello,bananas and Gatorade. I fixed daddy soup and crackers for supper. Hopefully, his stomach will settle down. I was so excited today that he decided to call his siblings. He called them with no help which is wonderful. He hasn't done that since the stroke. I am a little worried about getting over there in the morning. We are supposed to have ice, and our state is not equipped for it. I put daddy's morning meds in a cup with instructions. I explained to both mama and daddy that he is to take all the pills at 7:30am. I hope this works.

I am very thankful that daddy had a good day today. His stomach problems are better. This mix of meds has really helped him. I am so excited that we finally get into see the neurologist tomorrow. At least we should know more of what we are dealing with. Both mama and daddy ate good for supper. They apparently did good with meds this morning. We stayed in this morning because we weren't sure how the roads would be. Daddy told me about a snow bird that flew into the window. He said it laid on the ground awhile before it flew off. He is finally showing some interest in something. He still wants to go home which I fully understand. Still no interest in tv. He will read the newspaper and magazines but doesn't sho much interest in books. Say prayers for us tomorrow. I am excited about getting answers but some may be hard to handle. On a good note we are going to see the baby in a bit. On a I think we are crazy note we decided to keep Brittany's weimaraner permanently. She had put him in the paper to sell him but he is a great dog. Just call us the dog hoarders. I can't wait to see how much it will cost to board all the pooches when we go on vacation.

Today was the big day for daddy to visit the neurologist. The neurologist doesn't thi he ever had a stroke. He diagnosed him with Alzheimer's. He wants me to wean him off his anti psyatic drug and he is goin g to put him on some memory drugs. I hate to take him off this drug because he is doing so good but the neurologist explained that this drug tends to cause heart problems. We certainly don't need that because he already has heart problems. Daddy wasn't impressed with the neurologist, said he talked too much. I don't know which diagnosis is worse, Alzheimer's or vascular dementia. Doctor gave me a ton of information. I have been reading through it since I got home. Daddy's appt was this morning, mamas was this afternoon. She met with the primary care doctor who increased her dopezil by doubling it. It may just be the stress of daddy but she is definitely doing worse. I don't know if I need to continue blogging on this site or move over to the Alzheimer's site. I made a few decisions today. One of which is to do a few fun things for myself and not feel guilty about it. Overall. Daddy and mama had a decent day. I picked up Burger King for a treat. Mama and daddy scarfed it down. Hope everyone had a great evening. I am pooped.

Today was a good day. I got up and went to work. It was extremely busy all day. I met Brett at mama and daddy's and we headed to Searcy for the cardiology appointment. The appointment went good. We went to eat at Ryan's afterwards. Daddy got confused and sat at the wrong table. Mama lost her plate somewhere at the bar. She went back and got another plate with only salad stuff. I went back and got her some chicken and chicken livers. She and daddy both ate pretty good. I started putting back on daddy's anti psychotic med tonight. We will see how it goes.

I have been doing a little research on long term effects of electric shock treatments. Daddy underwent electric shock treatments in the early seventies for major depressive disorder. This may have absolutely nothing to do with what is going on now, but I think it is worth looking into.

We have had a pretty good week. Daddy has done well even with decreasing his anti psychotic drug 25%. I am concerned about this but will do as the doctor requested. I had to work yesterday so Brett went to the farm alone. I gave him a list of things to bring back. I was super tired yesterday. Work people were super cranky because they are tired of working so much overtime. I went to the apartment after I got off work. My son daughter-in-law and oldest grandbaby came by for several hours. It was good to see mama and daddy laugh so much. Mi enjoyed playing with the little one. I got hom around 7 and took care of all the four legged munchkins. I was going to do some housework but lost my motivation. I just went on to bed. I got up this morning, did some housework then headed over to mama and daddy's. They both seemed in good spirits. We went to church and it was an awesome service. I ate lunch with them then went shopping for a bit. I didn't buy a thing but it was fun to go.

I came home and cleaned floors then took a nap. Brett was still at the farm. I went back over to the apartment at 4. Mama and daddy were waiting for me in the lobby. Daddy and I went for a long brisk walk. Mama didn't want to go. She seems to be more feeble. They ate chicken and vegetable soup and rice pudding. They seem to enjoy having devotions at supper time. I headed out and did our grocery shopping. Hope everyone has a great week.

Today was a pretty good day for mama and daddy. Daddy's heart rate was up but still below 100. We did leftovers for supper. I feel a migraine coming on so I wasn't spear motivated to cook. Daddy seemed fairly sharp. Mama concerns me. She keeps putting stuff in the floor and I am afraid she is going to fall. I really hope all this is not hereditary, I already have vascular issues. I have both migraines and syncope and migraines. I am trying to eat super healthy and get plent of exercise. I pray my kids don't have to go through this. My husbands dad had dementia and his grandmother has alzheimers. I need to just focus on life now and stop worrying about what could happen.

Today is kind of a sad day. Even though I knew mama had something it was still hard to hear she probably has Lewy Body Dementia. I read up on it and I believe the diagnosis is correct. She was so happy that the doctor didn't say she had alzheimers or dementia. The doctor thinks I need to rethink their living arrangement. She thinks they would do better with assisted living. I just don't think they are ready for that yet. I am trying to let them be as independent as possible. Daddy is still doing pretty good. I am afraid that will change as I wean him off the anti psychotic drug. We go see dr kahn next Tuesday. I am going to talk to him about quality of life and see if he will keep him on it. On a good note, he spent the day with his sisters. They took him to David's burgers. He apparently ate well because his sugar was 238. I am a little concerned with his pulse. It is normally around 60. Today it dropped to 40 for a short period. It went back up to 67 a short time later. It was 87 at supper.

Today is a good day. Brett got a job and starts Monday. This has been a long 6 months. Hopefully, things are looking up. Daddy seemed to have a decent day. He pored some water on mama while she was asleep, made her really mad. He thought it was hysterical. Daddy was telling Robbie all the places he and mama were going to take her. Mama heard daddy was going to take her so it made mama mad. They ate a good supper. Robbie took daddy to the doctor, he was severely constipated. Believe me when I say he isn't anymore. They ate a really good supper. I fixed stir fry. I took mama and daddy walking. Mama is getting extremely feeble. We may wind up decreasing her meds. I am not sure they are working. The both have follow up appointments with their go next week.

Today was a good day. I picked mama and daddy up for lunch. Brett and the kids met us there. After church we ate at the apartment dining room. The two year old was quite busy. I had a hard time dividing my time between her and the 7 wk old grandbaby. Mama and daddy seemed to enjoy the company. I made sure they had their meds and ate supper before I left. I am feeling sick. My nose is stopped up and my voice is almost gone. Mama doesn't sound the best either. She has a doctor appt Wednesday. I am afraid to give her much of anything after reading up on Lewy Body dementia. Daddy interacted well with my cousin today. They talked about guns and reloading.

This has benn a wild week. I started feeling bad Monday morning and lost my voice. Mama started acting like she wasn't feeling good either. I wound up staying home Tuesday because I was running fever. I went ahead and took daddy to his scheduled doctors appt. he does not want to take daddy off the anti psychotic drug. He agreed with me quality over quantity. He told me to cancel the followup appt with the neurologist. Mama was acting super confused. We realized she was running a fever. Gave her some ibuprofen and hot tea with honey. She seemed to be doing better so I went back home to nurse my fever, felt like crap. My fever broke sometime during the night. I slept in Wednesday mornin and took mama in for her scheduled appt. the did a nose culture for flu. Said she still had 101.6 fever 1 1/2 hrs after taking ibuprofen. They gave her some Tylenol. They wouldn't call in any meds until they knew for sure what she had. Daddy's sisters picked him up to spend some time with him while I took mama to the doctor. They wanted me to call them when we got back to the apartment. I called them on the way back and no one answered. I called Robbie to come stay with mama. Tried my aunts again with no answer. Finally got a text that they were on the road and having a good time. I suspected then that they took him to the farm. I am fine with them taking him, I just thought it was a bit shady that they didn't say anything about it. I would have had them pick up the mail, etc if I had known they were going. I am just thankful daddy had a wonderful time. He was worn out because that is 180 miles round trip. He got to see his tombstone with the shuttle on it so he was pleased. My aunt said he wants to learn to use his phone again. Found the phone but haven't found the charger. We will work on that tomorrow if I can charge his phone. I went to see the counselor tonight. It is good talking to someone who understands the dementia issues I am dealing with. She told me to contact the social worker at the VA to see what they can help with since daddy is a veteran. My plans tomorrow are to call fox ridge assisted living for a tour and contact the va. The hubs is back working this week which is awesome. Growing up an only child you learn yo be a loaner. I value my alone time which has been few and far between since he became unemployed 6 months ago. I will work to mound a few hours Saturday. I was really hoping to have this Saturday off the nurse myself back to health. I am eating a ton of vitamin c. Mama has rsv not the flu so she is on antibiotics. I have made the decision to let mama and daddy stay where they are as long as possible, the do not do change well.

Pretty good day so far. I got to the apartment around 10:30 this morn. Gave meds, daddy's sugar was good. I ate lunch with them. They both ate pretty good. I tried letting daddy have a little space. I told him to go ahead and go down to the dining room while mama was in the bathroom. He did good, no wandering. He and I went to SAMs trying to find mama a toilet with handles. He picked out some socks and coffee. He enjoyed paying for them with his card. He also filled up the car. We worked on using his cell phone last night. Oh, he picked out a Bill O'Reilly book.. We will see if he reads it. Mama stayed in because she is still sick. I made her some hot fruit tea with honey. I bought her an electric lap blanket but so far daddy seems to be the one using it. Trying to enjoy the good days instead of stressing over what is to come.

Yay, found out I am going to be a Mimi again in August. Praying everything goes good this time. They lost one last year. Mama and daddy had a good weekend. Mama stayed in because she was still sick. Daddy and I went grocery shopping Friday and SAMs shopping Saturday. Daddy picked out a bill O'Reilly book and some socks. He paid for his stuff by himself. He also filled up the car. I finally persuaded mama to let him do some stuff by himself. He isn't agitated right now so I dont think he would wander off. Robbie took them to the dermatologist and then Burger King. They were so excited. I took the night off and stayed home. I will visit fox ridge assisted living tomorrow after work. I am not ready for that stage but I want to see how this place makes me feel. There are some perks. They take care of all three meals and meds. It will take a big burden off me but I don't think they are ready to move yet. All the dogs are taken care of for the night. I will need to feed the little mama with her 10 babies one more time before I go to bed.

Things have been going pretty good. Mama, daddy and I kept the baby some Saturday. I had a concern daddy was not doing good again. Mama called and wanted me to talk to him. She said he wanted me to bring the car over so he could drive to the farm. She wanted me to talk to him. I took him to Target and he seemed fine. I don't know if it was her anxiety from her dementia or if he was agitated before I got there. Brett and I took them to the farm Sunday. Robbie said he told her he was driving the truck home. I went in the house first and hid the keys. Mama and daddy seemed to really enjoy themselves. My aunt said daddy wasn't happy because he isn't in charge of anything. His cousin quit farming so I asked him who he wanted to farm his land. I set up a meeting with the guy he wanted. Daddy handled everything and seemed to enjoy it. We loaded up the car with clothes and food and headed home. We stopped by to play with the 2 year old grandbaby. Daddy concerned me a bit today. He said we didn't get back with his belt or shoes. He specifically put his shoes up when we got back to the apartment. I don't know if mama moved them or if he just didn't remember. Their friends from Huntsville are coming to visit Thursday. Daddy seems excited, mama does not. The friends husband has Alzheimer's so this may be interesting.

I took a vacation day today and stayed home with the hubs. It was a nice relaxing day. I got quite a bit of cleaning done. I know I won't get any done tomorrow night since we are keeping the baby all night. We ate a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant and ordered mama and daddy salmon with vegetables. Mama only ate a little salmon and peanut butter with banana. She said she can't hardly chew. I have them both a dentist appointment Tuesday. I feel bad because she apparently loosened her teeth when she fell the last time. The doctor wants to increase her neurontin to three times a day. We will start that tomorrow. She is getting very agitated. We are supposed to get ice Sunday night into Monday morning. I will have to have a backup plan for mama and daddy if Robbie can't get over there.

Today has been a hard day for me. My little Maci,10 year old Yorkie, died in my arms this morning. I tried not to act upset around mama and daddy. I cried a little in church this morning. Daddy has been extremely quiet lately. He asked me tonight when he was scheduled to see the replacement for the neurologist. I told him I would email the doctors office. I think he is hoping for the okay to drive. Mama continues to go steadily downhill. She is extremely frail but will not use her cane or walker. I'm don't know how to make that happen. I stocked them up on groceries this morning. We are under a winter storm warning starting tonight. I laid out their pills for them just in case Robbie can't get over there. I bought bread,cheese, lunch,eat and fruit. I have plenty of chicken vegetable soup made but they can't seem to remember how to use the microwave. I feel better after talking to the lady at the desk at the retirement center. She said they bring in generators if the power goes out. She assured me they would get breakfast and lunch no matter what.

Woke up this morning to major sleet. I tried to make it to work and made it one mile. I turned around, stopped at the grocery store and headed home. Nothing was done to the roads today. Brett said he is taking me in the morning. I am a bit nervous because it is going to get down to 6 tonight. Everything is going to freeze back over. I had mama and daddy's pills laid out for today. Mama concerned me because she said she had a leftover pill. They were having sandwiches and left over soup for supper. I hope they got down the instructions on how to work the microwave. Robbie is staying with them all day tomorrow so I will worry less. My kids both work at hospitals so they have to go in no matter what. Jeremy made it fine. Brittany is still on maternity leave thank goodness. The Weimaraner's had a blast running in the ice. All the babies are down for the night and I am about to give it up myself. Stay safe everyone if your roads are as rough as ours.