• Note: This month I begin a new routine.  In order to be more “at hand” to help Dad, I am restricting my former weekly activities to monthly.  I will volunteer at the food bank on the first Friday of the month; attend choir practice on the second Wednesday; do data input in the church office on the third Tuesday; and do computer input at the pregnancy center on the fourth Tuesday of the month.

August 1^st through the 10^th

On Monday, 8/1,  Dad got a haircut and I got a post-Bible school massage.

Wednesday, 8/3 – I picked my friend, Jackie, up from her sister Barbara’s condo and we went north over the Skyway bridge then west to St. Pete Beach and south to the village of Pass-a-Grille, where Rick and I rented a house while we were having our Palmetto Point house built in the early 80’s.  We had lunch at The Sea Critter’s Cafe and enjoyed the food as well as the activity on the water.  The picture below was taken from their website and is a little blury.

Dad saw his doctor to check on his weight and general health Thursday, 8/4. The doctor said that Dad had lost a couple more pounds in the eight weeks since he was last there.  In December, Dad weighed 147 pounds – today, he weighed 125.  The doctor ordered a CAT scan of Dad’s stomach to be sure that is not part of the problem.  We will return for a follow-up on October 4.

Since Friday, 8/5, was the first Friday of the month, I volunteered at the food bank from 4 to 6 p.m.  J.P and his older daughter, Vanessa, went to a concert in Orlando and then stayed overnight with friends.  On Saturday, 8/6, they drove from Orlando to Tampa to meet JP’s cousin, Melissa (my brother, Rick’s, daughter) along with her son, Michael and his significant other, Brooke, at Busch Gardens for an early celebration of Mike’s 24th birthday.  He is just a few months older than Vanessa.  Kellie and Emma drove up from Parrish to complete the group.  They all had a good time.  Pictured below are Brooke, Michael and Melissa.

Saturday was also another cousin’s birthday.  My niece, Christina is married to Wim de Boeck who turned 38.  They live with their daughter, Elody, in Nebraska.

Sunday, 8/9, found Dad, Emma and me attending Sunday school and church as usual.

Wednesday, 8/10, was Emma’s first day in the 4^th grade and her first time ever riding a school bus.  She came over to my part of the house to have me braid her hair since her Mom left for work at 6:15 a.m.  In the afternoon, I took Dad to his dentist’s office to have a second set of impressions made for his permanent dentures.  Then, in the evening, I went to church for choir practice where we went over music for the next three weeks.

August 11^th – 31^st

On Thursday, 8/11, Dad had a visit from his health insurance company’s House Calls nurse.  She said he seemed pretty healthy for his age.  She also suggested that I call the VA to see if I could get some help taking care of him at home.

The next Saturday, 8/13, Kellie and JP drove, in separate cars, up to the Ocala Forest to get her parents some things from her sister’s mobile home.  Dad and I followed them in my car.  We stopped just across the highway from the Silver Springs State Park on Florida State Road 40 to transfer Emma from her mother’s car to mine.  Then we followed Kellie east on 40 over the Oklawaha River bridge (built as part of the Cross Florida Barge canal which was never completed due to ecological concerns).  We turned north onto CR 314.  When Kellie turned off 314 to go to her sister’s place, we continued on to Salt Springs.  After checking out the Salt Springs Recreation area, we turned south on State Road 19.  We passed by the entrance to Silver Glen Springs which was closed because they had reached a capacity crowd.  As we continued south, we caught a few glimpses of Lake George.  (Lake George or Lake Welaka is a broad and shallow brackish lake on the St. Johns River.  It is the second largest lake in Florida, after Lake Okeechobee.)  We made a brief stop at the Juniper Creek Wayside Park.  Later in our journey, we passed the entrance to the Juniper Springs State Park on State Road 40 heading west back toward Ocala.  They have a 7-mile canoe trip which leaves from the park and travels down Juniper Creek.  The end of the trip is at this wayside park where the water is still crystal clear.  We drove by the cabin that Dad built over 50 years ago and saw the new owners outside putting up a fence in front of a nice motorhome.  Other than that, the rest of the place looked the same as it did when Dad lived there.  Our last stop was at a park on the Silver River (which comes from Silver Springs and joins the Oklawaha River.)  On the map below, the roads in red that we travelled (both SR 40 and SR 19) are part of the Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway.

We met again for an early supper.  After supper, Emma returned to her mother’s car (JP’s car was full of stuff and Kellie’s was only ½ full) and we all drove back to Parrish.  On Thursday, 8/18, I went for a blood draw in the morning; and, in the afternoon, Dad returned to the neurologist to get the results of an EEG.  The doctor said that he has dementia.   That evening, I attended the Senior Saints Potluck supper meeting while Dad stayed home.  The following Wednesday, 8/24, I got my 3-month health check-up.  Last week’s blood test revealed that my sugar is much too high – I have to make changes.  On Friday, 8/26, Dad and I had a serious discussion about our health.  He understands that I just can no longer give him the quality of care that he needs and agreed that I should start looking for a memory care center for him to move into.  I contacted “A Place for Mom” to get some recommendations for places to tour.

The following week was filled with tours of memory care facilities.  On Monday, 8/29, Kellie and I visited two memory care facilities in Sun City Center (about 30 minutes from home).  Cypress Creek is a definite possibility, but Belvedere did not appeal to either of us.  Tuesday, 8/30, I visited two memory care facilities in Lakewood Ranch with JP. On Wednesday, 8/31, Dad got a CT of his chest, abdomen, and pelvis at MDC Riverside (ordered by Dr. Bollegraf, his primary care physician to rule out any of them being the cause of Dad’s weight loss.)  That evening, the family celebrated Emma’s 9^th birthday.  She will have a pool party on Saturday to celebrate with a bunch of friends.