Tips For Caregiver's

People with Alzheimer's disease frequently become more disoriented after dark or when waking. Leaving a night-light on in the bedroom may be helpful.

~WebMd

Friday, September 21, 2007

Barricades

Mike had to work late last night. Any time he comes home late, due to work or otherwise, it is typical for him to check on the kids and Muddear since their rooms are next to each other.

When he arrived at Muddear's door he noticed it was closed. We don't allow her to close the door because she always wakes up in the middle of the night. If Muddear begins to call us and her door is shut, we cannot hear her. Therefore, typical Mike, he opened her door and walked back to our bedroom.

Several minutes later, Muddear's bedroom light came on, she shut her door and I kept hearing loud bumping noises coming from her room. Of course, I had to investigate the ruckus and what do you think she was doing? Barricading the door! I initially had difficulty opening the door because she had placed the two tray tables we normally keep in her bedroom behind the door!

"Muddear, it is not safe for you to barricade your door. We need to move these trays."

"No! Somebody kept knocking on my door and opening it up. What do they want with me?"

"Muddear that was Mike, he opened your door, because we cannot hear you if you need help at night. He didn't knock on your door, he went into both of the kid's rooms."

"Well why didn't you tell me what you were going to do?"

"Muddear, you were sleep."

"I know that, you should have told me during the day that you were gonna open my door tonight."

"I did tell you."

"Oh."

After that Muddear was up all night - opening and shutting her door; turning the lights on and off; and yelling out the door..."what do you want with me!"

2 comments:

Shadowspun said...

Have you tried a baby monitor? We use one with Grandma since we sleep upstairs and she downstairs. It's very helpful.

njm said...

Shadowspun,

No we haven't. I have thought about it off and on for about a year. Perhaps its finally time. Thanks for the advice.