It’s Labor Day Eve, and since my whole world revolves around my dad and his care, it matters nothing to me except for being grateful Dave gets an extra day off to help us.

But I’m here to talk about the word of the day, which is “brain.”

I really wish my dad was a candidate for DBS, or deep brain stimulation. His age prohibits him from receiving this treatment, however, and that’s a shame. All of the medicine his neurologist has tried to minimize the shaking from his tremors has failed to have any effect, instead, it makes him so groggy or out of it, he starts falling.

(If you click the link, you can see all about DBS in Parkinson’s treatment.) If the link won’t work for you, find it on Wikipedia under “deep brain stimulation.”

My dad is almost 87, has aphasia and hearing loss. The neurologist said it is too risky an operation for a man his age. There is no treatment for aphasia that I’m aware of.

My husband had a brilliant idea yesterday for a way to communicate with Dad. Instead of trying to use the white board, let’s try Scrabble tiles!! I can’t wait to try that! Most of the time, he just responds to questions with a head nod, shake, or thumbs up, thumbs down. Yesterday, he was trying to tell me he needed something for pain, and was finally able to write it on the white board, prompting David’s brilliant idea.

I also wish that the rest of my family understood that taking care of a aging parent with all of Dad’s issues is a full-time job. Instead, I get ludicrous questions like asking if he can still play pool or what are we doing for Labor Day, as if everything is normal and we have time to host an event.

Can they not see what is going on here??? And I’m the one living in MY own little world??? Jeez! My family is clueless.

Happy Sunday everyone and for those celebrating tomorrow, Happy Labor Day!!