Dennis that is pretty much what I said.   In this particular nursing home
they have a VERY strong emphasis on rehabilitation in the rest of the
facility, so they seem to take somewhat the same approach with the alzheimer
ward.   They really are serious about this and they have plenty of employees
all working towards assessing the person's abilities to function and working
with them.

They also feel that various medications, which we all know very well have a
tendency to make a person more tractable, also diminish their walking
abilities etc.  So that is why they tend to feel that the less amount of
meds the better.   I am OK with that, if they want to deal with her
delusions.   I don't want her to fall or hurt herself either.

They told me that Ida barely ate anything yesterday, so the big show of
eating that nice healthy meal when we brought her in on Monday was just out
of her nervousness or something.   I sort of knew that at the time.  I would
cook her the most delicious things at home and she would eat only a part of
it.   The dogs could get fat on her leftovers!

Anyway, I suggested that she eats more with coaxing, so they are going to
coax more.   They weigh all the patients every week, so they will know if
she isn't doing well with her food.  They did mention that she was taking in
a lot of fluids which was good.   I always had a hard time getting her to
drink anything.   She would say she wasn't thirsty.

At any rate they are going to titrate her down, though I don't know how much
or how or when.  Hopefully I can get to see the doctor today when we come in
for our visit.   I am pretty much impressed with this facility right now,
and we will see how it goes as time goes on.

Yesterday we paid for her prepaid funeral which we are allowed to do with
medicaid and the home prefers it also.   It felt so strange arranging a
funeral for a living person, but it is actually a pretty good deal.

It goes into a trust which earns interest.   That justifies the increase in
costs over time in case the person dies a lot later on.    You can take this
and use it anywhere, so it is portable.  I think after talking to the guy
who owns the place (a fellow Rotary Club member) that it sounds like a good
deal for anyone, actually.

The only thing is that you have to make all your estimates of what you are
going to do ahead of time, since you can't ask for more than you have paid
for down the road when you actually go to use it.   So they don't limit
whether you want a fancy funeral or a plain one, but you can't change the
deal later on unless you also add more money.