judgement calls

Dad has been coughing for almost a week so far, at least it is productive. The doctor gave me zpac just in case it got worse, which I think it has. He is getting grumpier and coughing most of the night so 2 days into the antibiotic he is better, good call I am hoping. Now he has been put on another different alzheimers medication besides the namenda begins with an "a", a little more confusion so far and I am not too sure what to do. All I can do is wait and see if he changes at all for the good or bad. Yesterday he was up calling me at 5am, Ron usually doesn't tell me till he figures out what he is doing so he doesn't have to wake me up. I get up and dressed go down and he is kneeling beside his bed "attempting" to stand, which I don't want him to hurt himself, but he is trying. His depends off, bed is soaked, shirt soaked and I'm looking at his backside. I get Ron, I clean him up, and give him breakfast and attempt to keep him up till 8:30. I am not sure who or what this is helping, but I sure don't want to get his schedule set to that time! To make matters worse, the ac is iced over, my husband is building an attic ladder so he can get to the ac and the upstairs is a mess because of it. Ron worked on this 6hours the day before and 4 hours today, what fun. I call Amber and tell her about it inform her we are spending the night at her apt. and she can stay in 87 degrees tonite. She says ok but I was just kidding, it was nice of her to mean it though. I really am blessed that I have such a great team. When I started this the first year I would do everything myself, thanks to a couple of people making me see that you can't do all of it alone or you will burn out quicker than anything. Vacations are a must, dreams are a must, exercise and time alone too doesn't hurt. You have to take care of yourself better than you ever did before because you can't call in sick or play hooky. Agencies get paid lot's of money for an excellent service they provide (some of them at least) and at $18.50 you can't always afford round the clock care. So I really budget my agency to when I want to go out or want to work on mom and dad's house which isn't often but going to the movies again or dinner is not time taken for granted.