Caring for Grandma

BrookeRyan

Good morning. I'm new here. My wife's grandmother is in mid stages of Alzheimer's and is at home. Grandpa is her primary caretaker and does not want to move her to a memory care facility. He also doesn't allow much help. My wife and I go over every couple of weeks to wash grandma's hair and try to get her into a change of clothes. She is mostly cooperative, but some days are better than others.

Grandpa is having surgery and will be in the hospital 3-5 days. My wife and mother in law are staying at Grandma's home to care for her while he is away and I am coming in the late afternoon to give them a break once I am done with work. Grandma does not do well with Grandpa gone for more than about 30 mins. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to help her through the anxiety of him not being home. Also any activities for keeping her entertained would be great. She does not like to watch tv and has a hard time with tasks like washing dishes or basic chores.

Thank you for listening and for any help you can give.

Sincerely - a loving granddaughter in law

CindyBum

Not sure how she'd respond, but we would do little "spa day" kind of things for my MIL. Wash and style her hair and clip her nails and put on polish. They were things she needed, but she also had always enjoyed a mani-pedi, so she'd giggle and laugh with us while we pretended to be at a salon.

ALZCModerator6

A post has been deleted from this conversation. Please be mindful of our Community Guidelines for participation in ALZConnected.

SDianeL

What about asking her doctor for something to calm her while he's gone? Sometimes music works. What songs or musicals did she like when she was young? Here's a list that may help: https://www.alz.org/help-support/resources/kids-teens/50-activities

BrookeRyan

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/187778#Comment_187778

This actually worked great. We’ve listened to a lot of Doris day