Assisted living

That would be me. Not her.

My living assistant Dear Son had a whole week at home! Hence no blogging, cos he made it all run smoothly.
I sailed off to work without a care in the world and he worried about shopping and cooking and snow clearing.

Happy.
So much easier.
Couple time of dinner with friends, lots of TV, planning my birthday ski trip next month, watching Olympics on TV.

We did lots of family stuff with Okaasan. Lunches and dinners out locally, and took her to the Sapporo Snow Festival. She walked half the length of the park gripping his hand firmly.

And we enjoyed all the huge human and animal forms in snow that this year's festival had to offer.

SUCH a good week...I even managed to slip out between classes for an afternoon ski at the local ski slope overlooking the city. I love it that there is skiing just a 20 min drive from home.

And that was it really. At the end of the week Okaasan had a major toilet accident and hid it all in her laundry basket. Luckily she lives with us, so I could sneak into her room within hours and remove it all. If she lived alone it would just stay there, forgotten for sure.

The dirty clothes and the toilet mat were beyond rescue. We threw them away. The toilet carpet tile could be washed.

And so another week.

I read a blog about a woman whose husband has suffered from Lewy Body Dementia for years. This week he died. In hospital with his wife and daughter there at the bedside. And she blogged so beautifully about it. Sharing such a personal time.

Blogging is so strange. The happy and the sad. My blog is usually upbeat, the wacky, frustrating side of life. But her blog reminded me of how terrible this disease is and how it takes away so much of a person from the people they know and love.

Okaasan will be 83? 84? this year and her death at this age would not be unusual or shocking, far younger people have forms of dementia and lose their lives young.

A thought going out  to all the carers around the world.