Not with a bang, but a wimper

I visited with my brother, Barry, today. He has been in care now for 27 months, and in his current facility for nearly 12 months. His capacity continues to slowly diminish. Today's experience reminded me of our father and his dementia. Baz was asleep when I arrived, so I cleaned out his cupboards. When he awoke I encouraged him to shave. This led to a hair trim, which led to a shower and a change of clothes. He had no hesitation stripping in front of me, nor asking me to scrub his back. Dad was the same. Apparently dementia loosens inhibitions. He did say how good it felt to be clean and fresh. Then the poiatrist came and winkled out his ingrown toenails. We had a coffee and sat in the sun and chatted. I chatted, he listened. He is 68 years old.

I got his TV set up and going for him, which pleased him no end. He can often be found in the lounge watching whatever is on. He says he wants to watch the ABC, and documentaries. So, I fiddled with his aerial socket, which is still loose and therefore dodgy. I found which socket to put the head-phones into. I showed him how to turn the TV on/off. He is paranoid about someone stealing his head-phones. He is paranoid about disturbing people with the sound, as he mainly wants to watch in the early hours when he cannot sleep, and everyone else can. So, when I go again in two weeks, he will have dislodged the aerial, and misplaced the head-phones.