Chapter Next

Well, its finally over.  The company where I have spent the last ten years of my life is closed. . . Well, the facility is closed, the company is still thriving.   I will miss my co-workers, friends and family you all were and are to me, Thank You, I Miss You, God-Bless.

It is over and now a New Chapter has begun!   What now?  Well, Bill is asleep on the couch, two youngest kids are in school, Oldest is at dentists office, and the weather is Beautiful today.   I have Laundry going, Bill fed, Played fetch with the dog, wife is out doing the shopping.   Now, its time to BLOG!!!  

Let me tell you the biggest challenge we have faced having Bill live with us,  his biggest issue, his Peeing!!  So what? Everyone pees!   Well, they do, but they do not pee all day, everyday, EVERYWHERE!  He has peed on the couches, the floor, the living room, the hallway, the bedroom, the front porch, the front yard with traffic driving by.  He has peed on clothes, shoes, chairs, towels, bath tub, in closets, and on the heating/air conditioning unit.   He has peed while awake, asleep, sleep walking, daytime, nighttime, and anytime in between.   

Well, we did not yell, fuss, gripe, complain, raise hell, or fuss at him.  We smiled, said that's OK, we cleaned it up and monitored the situation.  We Watched and Learned!   What did we learn?  First of all, he drank too much coffee, too late in the day!  Hardly ever drank water.   We cut back on his coffee drinking as well as soft drinks and started drinking more water.  OH he still peed, but not near as much.   We also, noticed he was mostly sleep walking when he peed in places he was not supposed to.   Then the question arose, how do we stop him from peeing at night, or when he was asleep.   Simple solution, empty his bladder before going to bed.   I  learned most of this by reading the blog Alzheimer's Reading Room by Bob DeMarco.  Constantly reminding him to use the bathroom every hour or two, forcing him to use the bathroom before we left to go anywhere, having him go before going to bed.  I even woke him up in the middle of the night a few times and had him get out of bed to go pee.   The peeing episodes were beginning to come fewer and fewer, and further between episodes.   But, they still occurred, and he was still peeing a whole lot.  

One thing I remembered from somewhere in my past is that you empty your bladder more when you sit down and pee.  I also noticed that when I stood outside the bathroom door and listened, he was having a difficult time draining himself.   So, while casually mentioning to my wife in a conversation one night, with him sitting right next to me.  I stated that sometimes I have problems emptying my bladder, or feeling completely drained, but I noticed that if I sat down to pee, it all drained out completely, and giving me a more satisfied, relieved filling.   I then mentioned to Bill, hey you may want to try it and see if it helps.   Wow, I did not get his typical macho response of . . . "I am not sitting to pee like a bitch."  Instead I got. . . Hmmm I will try that, sure enough 20 minutes later he left the bathroom, and told my wife that it worked.  He does not do this all the time now, but enough to drastically change the constant peeing everywhere and anywhere.  Now I can use my Cabella's Waders for fishing as they were intended.