There is definitely ongoing improvement as Merl has said. I remember my Neurosurgeon saying once that this was as good as it’s going to be and I told her she was wrong that my brain could still do more. But there’s a Psychiatrist, Dr. Bruce Perry, down in Houston Texas that’s been doing a long term study on children with brain trauma. Dr. Perry’s research has shown that no matter our age, our brain can recover. The older we get, the longer it can take.It’s been an enormous amount of work for me. When I was a Psych student back decades ago, the belief was any damage after age 5 was permanent, Dr. Perry’s research proves otherwise and gives us all hope.
In our county in NC, we have an adult day care services. A friend has become the director and tried to encourage me to come and stay but pride may have been part of the reason I said no thank you. Your county may have something similar, look for Adult Services. It can be free or low cost depending on his income.
I had to use a lot of sticky notes for the first few years and a white board. I was taught in Speech Therapy to look at my smart phone first thing each day so I would know the day and the date as well as any appointments. I set two alerts for each of my appointments so I can be ready and leave on time. Like your father, I had issues with cooking. I am not allowed to cook unsupervised, per doctor’s orders because of one of my Speech Therapists😂 I used to love to cook but there’s too much going on. When Dad was still alive he chose not to come into the kitchen to supervise me, yet wanted to have several discussions. I burned the hot dogs and the kitchen smelled like it. No more hot lunch for Dad! We found a work around that I can still help in the kitchen by prepping everything for BH. In the beginning it could take all day for me to chop, slice, shred, grate, etc. I’m down to a few hours and still might not see the directions for an ingredient or two. I can grill and smoke without supervision on good days.
Besides Adult Services, he may qualify for services with the Council of Aging or Senior Services dependent upon his age. If you want, you can call Adult Protective Services in your county and ask for a list of agencies that can help your Dad. Either the secretary will know or she will pass you on to an APS Social Worker who should know. If you can’t find the numbers, let me know what county he resides in and I can do a quick internet search for you.
Like Merl, I also learned many things in my past employment. They’ve helped in my recovery quite a bit. One of the most important is for caretakers to take a break as you know. The other is for caretakers not to do what we can do. Yes, it may be easier and faster to do it for someone, but it won’t help that person improve and they may just get mad as a hornet. Speech therapy was wonderful to stop that behavior with BH and gave us work arounds that required notes usually on my smart phone especially for self care.
He may also benefit from Occupational Therapy. This was not available for me in our county due to its size and location. Another place to seek help is any stroke support group in your area usually found with your local hospital. Let us know what you find, it’s how we all learn!
. And I went into Cincinnati for a seminar while staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Ft Thomas KY. But see if these folks know or can help. 