channel 43

Channel 43 is your favorite TV channel.
http://seniorfraud.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-golden-girls.html

On the table next to your chair, there is a taped piece of paper with large letters "43", just in case you forget which station you like.

Today when I arrive, the room is quiet. The TV is not on.  You have been reading.

Now you realize that usually when I am there, Family Feud is on the TV.  We have come to enjoy watching Family Feud together.  Even I, who typically would never watch a game show, can now easily spend 10-15 minutes watching Family Feud.

"Turn the TV on  - channel 63 ", you tell me.

I am standing with the clicker, trying to get the system to obey.

I press 4 and then 3.  Up pops channel 33.

"yes, channel 33", you say.

why can't I use the microwave

"why can't I use the microwave?"  you ask me.

What you mean is that you can't seem to make it run.  You place your coffee cup inside, but when you go to press the buttons to run it, you can't make it run.

"You need to show me how to use the microwave".

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I give you a quick lesson on how to warm up a cup of coffee.  I place the cup in the microwave.

I set the time on 45 seconds.  I press start.  

This is all you need to do.

I actually don't believe you are able to choose the time anymore.  If we had a microwave that said "reheat coffee", and all you had to do was press that button , and start, it might work, but to have to enter a time, 45 seconds or even one minute, is probably beyond your current skill set.

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an interesting part of your dementia process has been the significant impact it has had on doing things mechanically with the hands or body.  This has resulted in significant problems in specific areas of daily living

- turning the TV on and off using a remote control clicker device

- changing the TV channel 

- using the telephone (especially if not the old fashioned rotary style)

- using alarm clocks

-using electric razor

Looking back, I remember how you used to get very angry with me when you were living alone on the prairie, and you had difficulties using your computer.  That was the beginning of the end.  You don't even try to use the computer now (which is a appropriate).

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I don't tell you that we had turned the electricity off to the microwave when we leave you alone.  

Its interesting how you never notice at all, as each time I come and go, I am flipping the switch for the microwave on the fuse box.  I am only 6 feet away from you doing this, every day, and you never notice.

We have done this since the fire.

http://seniorfraud.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-room-smells-like-smoke.html

Late night auto-dial on the phone

This is my mistake.  I moved the phone to the right side of the chair a few days ago, thinking it would be easier to reach.  However, you have been confusing it with the TV clicker since then.

Its New Years Eve, after midnight.  Its time for bed.  You get up, turn off the TV, leave the room, and then return. It is apparent you are trying to turn the TV back on.  But, instead, you have the phone in your hand.  I can hear the tones of the different numbers as you push the buttons, randomly.  Unfortunately, because of auto-dial, you call someone:

"Who is this I am calling?", you say.

Its like the adults who speak in non - word tones on Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin- we hear the tone of the person on the other end, but we don't know exactly who it is, we can't hear exactly what they are saying.

"I was just playing with some shoe devices here on my table, I didn't call you intentionally....But, you know, I have 2 pair of slippers... " (and from there he goes on into a long explanation about how the slipper doesn't quite fit -- and how he used to sell slippers.  This is an old shoe store merchant talking.  He goes into great detail about the slippers....eventually volunteering to give one of the old slippers to the husband of the person he has called.  The conversation goes on about 5 minutes).

OH NO __ WHO HAS HE CALLED??? I HAVE TO STOP THIS -- GET IN THE CAR AND GET OVER THERE AND GET HIM OFF THE PHONE!!

"How did I call you on this??  ........I've got these dialing deals, I 've got 2 of them on my table here, and I just hit the one, and you answered"

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We get in the car, but  en route realize that you have turned off the lights and are in bed.
We turn around and return home.

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I play it back

I hear the person say "go to bed" and you say " Oh yeah, I am going to bed".  And, with that, after several failed attempts of dialing nobody,you hang it up, turn off the lights, and go to bed.

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Tomorrow we commit to making the old fashioned phone reach the chair.   No more fancy auto-dial-capable-wireless  phone / TV clicker look-alike devices for you.


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Notice the "word salad" - replacing the correct word with another word -  "shoe devices" and "Dialing deals" in reference to the TV clicker and the phone.
Here is a link to other examples  http://www.lbda.org/node/362

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How easy it is to mess up the equilibrium/routine of a person with dementia -- as the dementia experts all know.

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