I pulled up my dad's pants today. Happy birthday to me.
It wasn't an ideal situation, even without the nudity. When we arrived at his house in time for a physio appointment I'd arranged in the hope it would help him become more mobile again, he was lying in bed in next-to-nothing, nowhere near ready to do anything. And all this while knowing exactly when we'd be coming over. At least half an hour then followed with me coming in and out of the room to see if he'd got himself together, which culminated in the pants-pulling-up when it became necessary.
I wrote the first line of this blog on the day of my birthday on Tuesday and, being honest, things have got worse since then. My dad's grown apathetic to the point where he's almost unprepared to do anything. It's impossibly hard to see and so relentless. He never agrees to get up or actively respond to any stimuli outside of basic conversation - so no reading, listening to the radio or watching the television - despite still having full mental capacity and the results are painfully evident. He only picks at food, barely drinks and his medication taking's all over the place; it's like a one-man mission to put himself at risk.
It's hard to know what to do when faced with this. I try to be mindful of his situation and not put him under too much pressure, while also knowing that the more he exhibits this type of behaviour, the harder it will be to ever function properly again. He's always been bad at looking after himself when he's ill - the slightest whiff of a cold would send him straight to bed. The only positive I can say is he doesn't seem to be in too much pain.
The thing I hoped would offer the most help (plus a way to help stave off depression) was the Amazon Echo I bought him. If he showed a little patience, he could use it to listen to the radio or call me, but he does neither, and when I call him, he just stares at the ceiling shouting monosyllabically. I really hope we can turn this around, because it's horrible as it is.
It wasn't an ideal situation, even without the nudity. When we arrived at his house in time for a physio appointment I'd arranged in the hope it would help him become more mobile again, he was lying in bed in next-to-nothing, nowhere near ready to do anything. And all this while knowing exactly when we'd be coming over. At least half an hour then followed with me coming in and out of the room to see if he'd got himself together, which culminated in the pants-pulling-up when it became necessary.
I wrote the first line of this blog on the day of my birthday on Tuesday and, being honest, things have got worse since then. My dad's grown apathetic to the point where he's almost unprepared to do anything. It's impossibly hard to see and so relentless. He never agrees to get up or actively respond to any stimuli outside of basic conversation - so no reading, listening to the radio or watching the television - despite still having full mental capacity and the results are painfully evident. He only picks at food, barely drinks and his medication taking's all over the place; it's like a one-man mission to put himself at risk.
It's hard to know what to do when faced with this. I try to be mindful of his situation and not put him under too much pressure, while also knowing that the more he exhibits this type of behaviour, the harder it will be to ever function properly again. He's always been bad at looking after himself when he's ill - the slightest whiff of a cold would send him straight to bed. The only positive I can say is he doesn't seem to be in too much pain.
The thing I hoped would offer the most help (plus a way to help stave off depression) was the Amazon Echo I bought him. If he showed a little patience, he could use it to listen to the radio or call me, but he does neither, and when I call him, he just stares at the ceiling shouting monosyllabically. I really hope we can turn this around, because it's horrible as it is.