Saturday morning –

7:00 a.m.

• Rise and shine. Chances are my grandmother woke up at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. but because I would have had her sleep a bit later, she possibly slept through the night. Sometimes though, I’m in for a surprise and I have found her on the floor waiting for me to wake up to help her up. You see, there’s no guarantee she’ll sleep through the night. She may have to go to the bathroom, she have been woken up by a loud noise. Either way, she’ll get up to keep herself busy, unaware that it’s time for bed. And if she slips off the bed the wrong way either by trying to get up or sit down, the possibility of her falling is there. Once she’s up, we’re getting her clothes ready for the day.

7:30 a.m.

• Bathroom break. Time to do the morning routine of bathroom break, disposing the used pull-up, doing a quick sponge bath (full showers, unless needed, are done every other day or every two days due to how traumatizing it is for her to take a shower or bath), washing her face and mouth, putting in the dentures, getting her dressed and ready for the day. Note that after every time she uses the bathroom, the bathroom is cleaned from the floor to the toilet to the sink.
• Bedroom cleanup. My grandmother likes making her bed every morning so when there’s time, I help her make her bed before breakfast. Otherwise we wait until after breakfast.
• Breakfast. My grandmother can be particular, but can’t we all be particular when it comes to food? She always needs her coffee but there are some days when the meal she loved last week all of a sudden disgusts her this morning. I like to give her a balanced meal without it being too much for her. A typical breakfast can either be silver dollar pancakes or eggs, one slice of toast with jelly and a side of fruit – usually 1/2 a banana. But again, sometimes she says the jelly is too sweet and all of a sudden hates things that are sweet or the toast itself might have raisins and all of a sudden she hates raisins. The point is, even meal time is an ever changing thing.

9:00 a.m.

• Medicine/snack time. All of her meds get crushed and mixed with a pudding. She has the meds given to her this way to ensure she actually takes her medicine. Otherwise she’ll spit out the pills or just physically get angry and refuse to take anything.

10:00 a.m.

• Bathroom break. You know the drill by now, don’t you?

11:00 a.m.

• Exercises. At this time I’m actually taking 20-30 minutes to go through a structured workout with her from marching in place, raising her arms, walking around and having her sit down and sit up from a chair. This gets her moving her body in a way she wouldn’t otherwise but also to loosen up her joints.
• Lunch prep. Depending on the day and her mood, the menu for lunch changes. I still try to keep it as balanced as possible but, again, she can all of a sudden hate something that she loved last week. It’s always great to have quick ready-made meals in the freezer for those finicky days.

11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 

• Lunch time!