Keeping a Calendar for Alzheimer’s Patients

This has been “spring cleaning” week at our house, when I began sorting through “stuff” and wondering if I should keep so much.  Some of this concerned letters and papers that were my mom’s, that I boxed and brought from her home when I moved her to mine. 

 These evoked memories, as well as information I can share with my readers, like the quote from Mother’s notes about her feeding her sister with Alzheimer’s.  Another was a calendar with reminders for Mother.  

As Mother became more forgetful, we had to develop a method for helping her keep track of what was going on in her life.  I would discuss with her what was on the agenda for the next week, until I could travel the 275 miles to see her again.  Then I’d jot it on the calendar.

Mother added her notes.  She could remember family birthdays and anniversaries and always wrote them down.  The calendar I found the other day was a brief synopsis of her life during one year.    My visits,  doctor’s appointments, trips to see her sister in the nursing home, holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries, and other occasions that made up her life at that time.

Mother kept this calendar on the kitchen table where she would peruse it.  This seemed to help keep her focused when her world was getting out of focus.  She didn’t remember everything and sometimes wondered why particular notes were written on the calendar.  However, this was one method I found helpful for both of us in charting our journey through Alzheimer’s.

       (Your calendar might be a simple wall calendar or you could use a notebook or planner type.  If instructions were detailed, I did use a note pad where I wrote these down for Mother.  Often she’d add her ideas and doodles.)