Health

Jim's cognition has noticeably deteriorated over the last 12 months or so. It's hard to know whether it has been affected by the isolation of lockdown, although we haven't been anything like as isolated or locked down as many other people. Even so, he no longer does many things that he used to enjoy doing. He struggles with jigsaws. He doesn't read anything. He no longer comes shopping, or not often.  On top of that his hearing is deteriorating and his balance and mobility are worsening. His world is shrinking, little by little.

We saw a geriatrician early in April who diagnosed probable early Alzheimers. He has just started on some medication to see if it helps at all. Too early to tell yet - he's only had two tablets! But it also means that we can start to put some things in place to help. The geriatrician made a referral to the Aged Care people for an assessment and yesterday a lovely lady came from the Ballarat Council health services to talk about our options.

She has arranged for someone to come three times a week to help him shower. She has referred us for an Occupational Therapy assessment to see if we qualify for subsidies to put grab rails into our toilet and perhaps even to assist with my planned refurbishment of our bathroom. He is eligible for podiatry care, and perhaps physiotherapy in the future. So many services that we are, will be or might be eligible for. And the advantage of living in a regional city rather than a metropolitan area is that the waiting times are less. 

In other health news, Jim has also had his first Covid vaccination. I had been planning to take him to one of the Covid clinics at the surgery but then the government opened a vaccination hub in Ballarat, a mere five minute drive down the road from our house. I took him there. I have to say I was very impressed. They've taken over a conference venue and it is really well organised.  A bit like going round Ikea, you move from point to point until you reach the place where they jab you. Then you are escorted to a "recovery" area and after 15 minutes they check that you are feeling well and send you out to make an appointment for your second dose - and home you go.

He's also been to the dentist to have his sore mouth sorted out. This resulted in him having a tooth removed. Unfortunately, this was the tooth that his lower dental plate hooked onto. His plate doesn't fit now and slides about in his mouth if he tries to put it in. This means that he can't chew so he's on a soft diet. He's seeing a dental technician tomorrow to see if the plate can be adjusted to fit. If not he will need a new one and that can't be done until July. I really hope the existing plate can be adjusted. I don't think he will enjoy a soft diet until July!

He does enjoy his "job" looking after Rupert and Hugo at Hill House. He loves them and they love him. They provide companionship when I am at work. He loves Brandy and Whiskey as well, but cats aren't quite as companionable as dogs - and Great Danes are very companionable dogs. Hugo was training to be a service dog when he came to us. He didn't complete his training. We didn't need a service dog. But I think he remembers. He is very, very gentle with Stella when she comes to visit and these days he is quite gentle with Jim. 

Rupert loves Jim too

We don't usually get beautiful sunsets at our place. We don't have the sort of view that allows for sunsets under most circumstances.  But I happened to notice on Sunday evening, when I went to bring the sheet and pillow cases in from the line, that the trees behind us were glowing red. Not a fire. A sunset!