Always so nice when it is sunny and warm when I visited my husband this morning. He's been in an extended care facility since last July. What happened was he went into a steep decline last June and ended up not being able to walk plus a huge loss in his cognitive abilities. Before that he was living at home with alzheimer's - slowing done a lot but still doing okay. Every day is different. In terms of how things are going with him. Sometimes he might only say one word. He goes through periods when he can't get his hands to work to feed himself. He has no idea where he is which is a blessing. My visits with him tend to be either in his room where I make him tea and we eat fruit and cookies together. If it's not too rainy or too cold - best visits (for me) he getting him outside into this lovely park next door. The park these days is filled with flowering magnolia trees, daffodils, hyacinths and banks of coloured heather clumps. Our favourite route is down a path, up a hill behind a water fall, then stop to look out over a small lake, down, past the rabbits which our dog Hugo likes to chase, around more paths through old trees and eventually back to his residence. Sometimes he falls asleep. Rarely does he talk. For Christmas I bought him one of those special lined capes for folks in wheelchairs. No more awful bending his arms in a winter coat that was slit up the back - which was still hard to get him into. The cape has made getting him outside so much easier! and if the care aids dressed him in thin pants then I just put a rug over his legs. Lately I tend to go "wow it's almost spring time." So far I have seen him there in the summer, autumn, and winter. In a funny way the seasons measure time that has passed both slowly and fast. He is slowly disappearing. Can't say enough about how good most of the staff are. Great rehab staff and nurses and the care aids. I had never been in a nursing home before until last summer so you can imagine what a foreign, and scary place it was. Social workers made it very clear it was my home too. Luckily I am retired and live close by so it is easy for me to mix up visit times and drop in when ever I feel like it. And they allow our dog Hugo inside. Hugo has become afavourite visitor - especially to those people who had dogs in their lives. My husbandis in a care facility where the residents with dementia are mixed in with everyone else. I wasn't too sure about that - but I am happy he is with people and their families who can still talk and are active. Way more stimulating. I'm glad I have discovered this web site. I want to share my journey with my husband. I hope to make a few entries every week about themes such as what we did in his room. What are the "rewards" when he can hardly communicate. How I handle stress of being a caregiver. My therapist's help. My worries. And the journal I do. I live in Richmond BC. and I am 66 years old.