BRAIN GAMES

 MADISON, AL.

Thanks to a reader's request I went down to the torture chamber this morning and nobody was there. Good I thought I can get the names of the games I play to help my dementia get better. Well not quite. Lots of the storage cabinets were closed and locked. The ones open were accessed to get game names on a few games. Then it was back to my room to write about it all. Then the internet was used to check out for more good games and verify what I had brought from the torture chamber. So now the plan after tonight is to get the information on games used as I get to use them in the future. Then the info will be available to all my readers.

The old standby is SUDOKU and it seems to be a mainstay for brain help.  It is used fairly often at this facility.

The one that has been giving me trouble for a few months is ON THE DOT by Brainwright and is available at Amazon. 

On the internet sites I found Chess, checkers and jigsaw puzzles are all recommended.

On a different thought exercise was also highly recommended and my favorite was in the top group of recommended exercises.  Thirty minutes a day of aerobic walking at a speed  that is fast enough to get you into breathing deeply is recommended. I do it in the hallways in my assisted living facility every day. It is easy and I get to HOWDY lots of folks.

I get torture chamber time Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I plan to report on new games as they happen. I have a little bit of stuff happening but it needs to wait a little while before publishing about it all.

As far as today goes the lady across the hallway, BettyR and I got in two nice patio visits today. One after lunch and one after supper and it was nice to use the good weather like that .

That is it for tonight. Have some fun for the gang. Goodnight.

BRAIN THERAPHY

 Madison, Al.

It was a nice day and productive in a few ways today. I still cannot get pictures onto the blog. But the Brain Therapy session was productive in that the therapist and I  were able to get my brain to function a bit better than usual giving me hope for some recovery of my brain abilities.  I used three different games that each one helps work on a special section of the brain.  For some silly reason I really did well with two of them which gave hope to me. Then the third one was not nearly as good of an outcome.  I did slightly better than the last time a week or so ago. But it wore me out terribly.

The day was nice enough to get to spend over an hour sitting on the patio after lunch visiting with BettyR  just nice visiting in the wonderful sunshine.  Then two other times I was able to get out for some serious stepping out walking around the grounds here. Good grief that felt really good.

And for more fun I tangled with a coloring that is challenging me noticeably. It is just a waterfall scene but very busy and I need to be very careful with the pencil tip.  But it feels good to have the challenge ahead.

And one more weak moment caught me looking and drooling on the computer at some art supplies on the Amazon site. And suddenly ZOOM ZOOM a small order was placed for watercolor supplies to try that stuff out again.  So it looks like we spent a small bit of money for fun again.

Tomorrow looks like another busy day of fun and games here in Alabama. Good Night.

DON'T KNOW ANYTHING

MADISON, AL. 

 I have had a so what day all day. So I spent most of the day working on a new coloring and just cooling my heels.  Sorry folks that is my best for today. OFM

DEMENTIA REPORT

 MADISON, AL.

Today I was evaluated again after a few months of mental therapy. We went through the whole re evaluation process and came out with a 3.8 rating. Last rating was 3.6. What that means is my brain is failing more slowly than a few months ago. So I guess that qualifies as good news. Right?  

In the mean time it was a nice day and we had nice meals for all three meals today. The salmon tonight was very good. 

I got to work on more art efforts.  It is still a fun hobby.

Everyone have some fun please. OFM

VISION CHECKING

MADISON, AL.

 The only and therefore biggest event of the day was a trip to the optometrist  for some follow-up checking. The optometrist  is the one in the Madison Costco. The OFM feels he gets superior care from this man and recommends him after two visits. My situation is eyesight degradation from aging. He reverified all the the previous work in my eyes and we discussed a potential item on the cataract surgeries I had a few years ago but it only needs to be checked each visit. So the OFM got a passing grade on his optical checkup. YAHOOOOO.  The trip was the high spot of the day since nearly nothing is going on in my life.  A nice long nap after lunch got my eyes back into shape for reading and coloring again and the rest of the day has been gentle and pleasant.  So tomorrow I need to get busy and stir things up. Have a great day.  

GETTING READY

 MADISON, AL.

The OFM is getting ready for the big event this week. His next dementia evaluation is due to happen this coming week.  How ever the evaluation comes out good or bad at least I will finally get to know when the trouble ahead probably will happen so I can better prepare my weapons to fight it back. It will be a miserable battle the next few years so I really want to have plans for the coming situations I face.

On the temperature front, it was cold today and the sitting out in the pretty sun did not last long at all. The next three days are going to be the same then we warm up a bit.

Along the way today I worked new techniques for coloring and presentation that should be wonderful if I can ever figure it all out. It is fun learning new stuff and practicing using it all.

And finally, in about a week I will be going to see the grands perform in their latest live stage play. That will be some really exciting fun for this OFM. 

And there you have a great day in old man's life. Have fun everyone.

ANOTHER VERY NICE DAY

MADISON, AL.

Not much  happened today, The day was beautiful  all day and my talking buddy BettyR and I sat on the patio for a nice long visit loving the weather.  Subjects came and went easily and that is what makes visiting with her such a nice time. Then after supper when the drizzle had started we sat in the special seating area near our individual rooms and visited for a half hour again. It certainly made it a pleasant evening. Thanks BettyR.

The serious cold front is supposed to be flowing into the area soon for three days of miserably cold weather. The OFM is ready for it but wishes it would be a false alarm and nice weather instead. But the OFM will stay warm inside as required and color a bunch. That is about it for tonight, just living well and being happy.  OFM

BEAUTIFUL DAY

 MADISON, AL. 2-20-26

The weather was very conducive to nice sitting and walking almost all day today.  The patio out back got  a good bit of use by the OFM. A couple of times Betty R joined me for good friendly chatting about nice subjects.  It was a really pleasant time during those visits. The OFM got in some nice walking today also.

The mental went very well in some ways. The OFM had lots of trouble with the mental tasks for sure but it was surprising when at the end of the hour session, my leader said I did very well compared to the last session we had on that activity.  I know I worked myself into a frazzle trying to do the chores set before me. But she was happy with our results from this session.

I will be happy when we get to do the next evaluation on me in a week or so and can get some decently accurate information on my situation. I am well aware that there is no getting well, only slowing the loss of brain ability to do things. But I hope to get a reasonable guess on a time line so my family can be ready to help as I fall apart right before their eyes in the next couple of years.

That is all the news for today but we have a very cold four days the first of next week to enjoy. Have fun and good night.

COLD WEATHER AGAIN

2/19/26

 MADISON AL.

We are expecting some new cold weather during the weekend getting down into the 20's. for three days. We do not want that cold weather but here it comes. We have already been getting things ready for spring here in Madison.  Oh well we will survive most likely.

Not a lot happening around this area these days. The OFM has just been doing some coloring and piddling to pass the time. I hope all you nice folks are doing well. 

To the nice person with the return address  "Long time follower" who sent me the beautiful card please remember I have dementia and memory is my first thing going away these days. Yes it was a wonderful beautiful card and I appreciate in immensely. THANK YOU very much.

It has been a bit of cleaning out going on to get rid of things I likely will never be using again since RVing is out of the possibility now.  So my pile of stuff in the closet is getting a little smaller.  And I am lightening my load of RVing things and slowly changing over to Assisted Living style style of living. That ugly event last year that precipitated my moving in here has pretty well set me up as an AL person for the rest of my life. The good part is that my home now is a nice, fun, SAFE place to live with my troubles and have the type of help I might need close by. So I smile and enjoy it. I intend to continue the blog as long as I can handle it and still hope to get pictures back on the blog when I can understand how to do it. In the mean time everyone have some extra fun.

NOT MUCH

 MADISON, AL.

It was a not busy day for a change. The OFM had little to do and the  whole Assisted Living building was on slow motion. But the OFM outdid himself and got a Dementia event in his head  going to fill in the day.

As you can imagine we certainly did not do much productive the whole day except wait for Amazon packages that did not show up. 

Maybe tomorrow will be just as exciting and boring. Have fun somewhere folks. 

NICE DAY OF GENTLE JOYS

  MADISON, AL.

It was a generally nice day temperature and otherwise. The dining room  meals were good and we got fed  good tasting food all three meals.  Folks were in a decent mood all day and that was nice. Overall it was just a nice pleasant day of good feeling all around. The OFM got to sit outside in the sun for over an hour flapping his jaws with the lady from across the hall after lunch just enjoying being alive.

But tomorrow the torture chamber, as it is sometimes called, is open again and things may get a bit livelier. That is what some the folks call the therapy room where we get to do mental and physical exercises in our efforts to get well. We gave up on my body and now all the OFM does is brain exercises to fix his brain. And he is really good at flunking the efforts to help his brain fragment that is left.

But we do get a lot of laughter at the OFM answers to questions. Relax and have some fun tomorrow. Good night.

A FEW THINGS TODAY

 MADISON, AL.

It was a good day today and did not get a chance to be boring. The OFM started the day after breakfast  with some coloring and was making good progress when he suddenly began getting flashing lights and wild images in his vision field. OOOPS That means a migraine coming on. So we shut all efforts down and went too get some ibuprofen tablets. The drug wagon happened to be just down the hall from my room and quickly I had the two tablets I needed. Back to my room and laid down for about 45 minutes. Then I piddled a bit checking out my condition.  It was good so back to work I went.

I  stumbled across a web site I used to use a lot when I first got into coloring with pencils and it was very helpful. You might like it also.

It is ART IS FUN and the writer is an excellent artist that actually can talk about things way down there at my understanding level. I will be there again tomorrow trying to pound some smarts into me.

Then to top off the day I got a wonderful long walk outside in cool temperatures. Then a nice long chat with a lady friend about things from kayaking to tonight's supper at the facility we live in.

It was a good day overall.  Goodnight. OFM

JUST WALKING

 MADISON AL.

Howdy folks. Just decent food for all three meals today. I nearly missed supper because I slept through the alarm clock I set to wake me from a late afternoon nap for supper.  One of the caretakers (Star) noticed I was not at my usual spot at the table and came down the hall to check on me.  Yep I was still sleeping soundly and the alarm had sounded just two feet from my head but I still did not wake up. Thanks to  her paying attention I had a nice supper tonight. THANK YOU STAR. 

We lost another resident recently and I had not heard about it.  This facility puts a notice with a picture on the reception desk when we lose someone. I did not know she was doing badly but now I know. She was a nice lady and will be missed. I hope her husband handles it well. He is nice folk also.

This afternoon I got a new coloring book in. It was pretty worthless. The new style of adult coloring books drawings are so bad that I did not even see a page worth coloring.  The drawings are very crude and drawn in vey wide lines that the colored pencils cannot cover and conceal.  That causes the colorings to look more like wall graffiti than art. YUK. So I will need to be very careful in the future to make certain the books are quality drawings.

It was a cool but sunshine day and I did get in a twenty minute careful walk outside  in addition to my half hour of inside aerobic walking today.  Almost all the folks in here will not get off there backside and exercise on their own. But that also leaves me more space to do my exercising to keep my heart beating well.

I guess I have mouthed off enough so have a nice evening and be safe please. OFM

JUST GOT LUCKY

 MADISON, AL.

An exciting therapy session was had today. The OFM hit the therapy room a bit early this afternoon and had about a ten minute wait for the fellow ahead of me to finish his session. Then the teacher and I visited about some business items.  Then it was therapy time. She is excellent at picking my therapy activities.  So today I was not surprised when we returned to an activity that the OFM totally failed at a couple of months ago.  It was a fun item to try where you put specially shaped pieces of  thin wood on a grid to be certain shapes.  Two  months ago this exercise totally blew my abilities into the sewer. I achieved a score of total failure for the effort, but it was fun trying.

Today was a new day. We discussed how the dementia was treating me today. Badly I told her. We discussed it a few minutes so she could get a good read on my thinking ability and announced we would put me to work on this program just to find out how I tested today over (or under) the last time to attempt the task.

It involves fitting varied shaped flat pieces of wood onto a shape drawn on a piece of plastic to create a given design. There are six different designs to duplicate with each one harder than the previous one.  Last time I could not even get the easiest one figured out.

So today I went to work on the first task with little hope of doing good since my thinking ability seems to have slipped a bit since the last time I saw this challenge.

Surprise I got the first one done in about five minutes as I recalled tactics I had developed the last time I tried the exercise. She had barely settled in behind her desk when I yahooed I had it done. To her surprise it was correct and extremely quick.

Let shorten this story. Then we went to the next level and I was quick

and correct again.  WOW I thought.  Then the next three went together before she could get behind her desk to wait on me. It was an incredible performance difference since I tried it the first time long ago. So apparently this therapy stuff is actually doing some measurable good for me. Don't tell me I JUST GOT LUCKY.

How is that for some good news for a change? OFM

NICE DAY TODAY

 MADISON, AL

It was a nice day overall with nothing special happening but nice meals all three times.  A painting was finished and shown to a few folks who thought it was a nice one. So did I. 

It looks like winter is finished with us and gave us us a nice sunshine day with a high of 65f. Yep I went outside a bit to enjoy it. In my therapy session I achieved the lesson goal in decent time and got a passing grade.  The Dementia seems to have progressed a bit. It is a bit worse now but the therapy gets changed tomorrow to meet the new needs.  These folks are big on jumping on a new trouble  with kick ass boots on immediately and not piddling around. I am very fortunate in getting to be a patient of this treatment group. 

That is it for excitement around here today.

Time for a good nap. Have fun. OFM

UROLOGY DAY

MADISON, AL.

It was time for the follow up to an earlier test and exam.  The doc did a few things and then we discussed a few things. After that it was a prostate fingering and all was called acceptable at this time.  Another visit in three months was scheduled. And away we went to get me back home and my son back to work. The rest of the day was piddle around and wait for USPS to get a very late package to me but no luck on that as usual. That made for the big excitement of the day. Take it easy folks but have some fun. OFM  

DENTAL TODAY

 MADISON, AL.

Not a lot happened today except for my six month check up and cleaning of my chompers.  I got fresh clean toothies and a good job of maintenance compliment. Six months until the next cleaning and another trip to that office. But teeth in good shape makes my life a lot nicer.

I got a list of all the drugs being used on me today and tonight checked out what each and every one is supposed to be doing for me. The big surprise was that the seven prescriptions I am taking to get my health back in control each had clear purpose and within the correct range of dosage for my troubles. So the doctors seem to be paying attention more than I thought. That was wonderful to find out.

So it looks like I am getting the best treatment available for the Dementia in general. Supposedly in a year or so the sickness may be able to be more exactly defined for more exact treatment. It is so early in the treatment that the exact version of the five types of Dementia is not identifiable yet. And nope it is not curable yet but can be made more livable with exact treatments.

The weather has quit that freezing stuff for the foreseeable future and everyone is rejoicing. A couple of the new residents have found out the OFM is the walking for exercise person to visit to find out where the best paths are when starting at our home here. So maybe I will get a companion on my walks this year. That would be nice. In the meantime every one get out and have fun. OFM.

APPOINTMENTS

 MADISON, AL.    

Here I was getting ready for a calm week when the phone rings and it is my son reminding me  of a dentist appointment tomorrow and a neurologist appointment on the next day for a follow up on my dementia .  So now I get to go to appointments the next two days and find out what sort of news I will be hearing and more about my dim future. 

Other than that it was another ordinary day of USPS not delivering mail that they claim to have to me. They are definitely having a hard time providing service this last couple of weeks.

And that is the sum of the  events of this nice day here in Madison. Good night.

ORDINARY DAY TODAY

 MADISON  Al.

Today was nice sunshine most of the day and I spent most of the day inside doing coloring on a nice picture. I will still be working on it tomorrow.

Nothing much else of importance happened to the quiet to disturb it at all. However we did have three good meals today without any just OK parts of the meals.  So I guess it needs an A rating for today. That's it for today, talk to you tomorrow.

HEAD TREATMENT TODAY

 MADISON, Al.

Today was interesting in therapy. The OFM therapy is for helping his brain heal as much as it will from the HIGH blood pressure damage ignored for years by the doctors he used back then.   Today was a day we did some repeat stuff from several months ago when I first got  here. My therapist was surprised to find me scoring much better than when I got here. Apparently some stuff quit deteriorating and slightly healed since I got here and got proper treatment. Most of the damage will never heal but it is known that it frequently can be slowed significantly in the future. So that was a bit of good news for a change. Now all the OFM needs to do is follow the rules.

We are getting some upgrades to the facility interior that are needed. One of which is better internet for the residents.  My new internet seems to be a bit quicker than before but it mostly is less prone to getting clogged up and stopping.

And other good news is the weather is finally getting to warm up a bit in  a few days. We are tired of these hard freezes every night for the last couple of weeks. I want to do some outside walking instead of walking the hallway back and forth to get my 30 minute aerobic in.

That is it for news hear in this area. Have fun wherever you are.

NORMAN

 MADISON, AL.

The fellow that was moved from our facility a few days ago to a different facility to better handle his 24 hour a day needs, Norman, died a couple of days ago I found out this evening. I had hoped he might get a bit better with the more intensive help at the new place. At least I got to wave to him and tell him goodbye when he rolled out of this facility. He had been in assisted living for a long time I was told. 

Good bye Norman, see you in a few.

ROUGH DAY

 MADISON, AL.

Today was weird. It started out with an early morning attack of dementia symptoms  that lasted until well after lunch. Even though I finished the thirty minute walk in spite of the attack I was a wreck for accomplishing anything. When I went over to the therapy room, my therapy person, Allison, chose the right treatment for me and things got a lot better very quickly. So the rest of the day has been good recovery time for the old fat man. I did find out my new kitchen windup alarm timer works very well to wake me from naps to get on to what I needed to be doing. So it was a decent day in the end. Good night.

NOTHING

 MADISON, AL.

I did absolutely nothing today but tomorrow I plan to be less industrious.

RULES

 MADISON, AL.

It was interesting today that I was told that I could no longer push folks down the hallways in their walkers with a seat. It is too dangerous. But a walker owner can propel themselves on the same walker down the same hallways.  So now if someone asks to be pushed to the dining room I have to decline. But I am allowed to tell an attendant that the person is requesting help in navigating to the dining room ( or elsewhere) and they can push the person in that same walker.  You figure it out, I am not smart enough to make sense of it. But I will obey.

It was cold today but very clear and about 50f outside, so I signed out and took a walk in the neighborhood next to the facility. It was really nice to get outside in the sun for a change.

The lady who does the weekly cleaning of my room got busy this morning and cleaned it while I ate breakfast in the dining room. So when I got back every thing was fresh and clean.

And that is all the excitement we had today.  Good night.

COLD DAY

 Madison, Al.

Another no much day for us. Things went well in general. While doing my 30 minute walk in the hallways today it was lightly snowing outside to give me something to look at. Another coloring was finished and it turned out decent. Not much else going on so I just piddled around doing nothing but my exercises and aerobic walking to attempt to stay a bit healthy.  We are getting near to the end of this less than freezing weather in about 8 days I think. It will be nice to be well above freezing at noon again.  Everyone have fun where you can and enjoy living.  OFM.