Our family member with dementia arrived at our Thanksgiving celebration sometime around 2:00 in the afternoon. Her afternoon caretaker took Thanksgiving afternoon off, and we planned to be responsible for her care until bedtime. Things went quite well, however, we now realize that if we are entertaining family and hosting festivities at our house, we need someone who focuses exclusively on mother.
Yesterday she needed help moving around the three rooms, she required assistance eating and toileting, and she needed companionship. Though other family members were helpful, eager to help in fact, mother was comfortable only with the two of us. This meant the one of the two Thanksgiving hosts (that would be us) was always out of commission, something that made the afternoon a bit more disorganized than we had planned. We know now that we need to have a caretaker when we take her into family gatherings.
The holiday celebration was fine. But as dementia creeps along, there is not a single activity in our life or hers that is untouched.
As Our Parents Age So Do We 