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And battles for the remote control? My 2 year old beautiful house is no longer clean and beautiful. My sweet husband has moderate dementia and wants to stay independent. But he spills EVERYTHING. And he breaks EVERYTHING. And now the house has that nursing home smell that I am fighting to eliminate. He bathes 3 times a day so he remains personally clean. Any ideas from others?

Also, a presenter at a conference who has Alzheimers recommended that we not change the channel on the TV from the program that the patient is watching. My husband watches the same few programs over and over and over again. Is this healthy for him? I hate to go into another room to watch a little TV and not be with him. But I hate to see him lose interest and start fidgeting when he can't follow my program.

How do others cope? And thank you all so much for your gracious advice.

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Bathing three times a day is very drying for the skin. After his bath, try putting baby oil on him. It smells nice and keeps skin moist.
Look for spill proof mugs, like the kind they use on a boat, with a wider bottom.
Breakage: give him unbreakable plates/bowls. Corelle is nice looking.
Odors: get the "blue water" toilet deodorizers that hang in the water tank.
Cover his favorite chair with a washable throw. Buy new pillows for the bed. Pillows retain odors.
Sprinkle carpet deodorizer into trash baskets when you reline them.
Change your furnace filter every 3 months and spray Febreze on it.
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This is used in barns and for large animals all natural you can get it online or I used a similar spray can formula from my local feed store this should do it...if you don't get it quickly the smell takes forever to get out of your home!

Bye Bye Odor™ is a safe natural microbial solution specially formulated to eliminate urine and manure odors.

Simply spray stalls, trailers, or kennels daily with enough to give the surface an even misting and within three days or less and the unpleasant smell will be gone. Bye Bye Odor™ is an odor clean up not a cover up.

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If he is missing the toilet, and you have carpet.. you are doomed. Also those rugs around the base of the toilet. We have tile.. it wipes up easily with any cleaner and the smell is gone. Remember to wipe around the base of the toilet, and at the back of the seat UNDER the tank.. stuff accumulates there also. As for him spilling everything,, we got dad a cup with a lid, the coffee kind instead of a childs sippy cup. He likes that he has one like we use. Eating in the kitchen only unless its a solid snack like a cookie or cheese. Hope this helps!
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I use a lot of diluted/mixed Clorox and water (approximately 1/8 Clorox the rest water) in a spray bottle and use toilet paper to wipe down things and flush down the toilet every few days. (I got this idea from how they sanitize swimming pools, etc.). I actually like the clean aftermath smell. Best Wishes.
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There is also a product on the market called Nilodor, it's a concentrated solution and I find it even knocks skunk odors. You only use a drop or two, you can use this in addition to a mild bleach water solution to clean with.
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I just got done training a new puppy, on new carpet, fun, hugh? A girlfriend told me about something called Nature's Miracle. The kind I found was in a spray bottle at a Pet's Mart, but I think it comes in soap form too. I does really work, "neutralizes" the urine odor rather than covers it up. Might be worth investigating on the web and see if it will work in your situation along with other good suggestions here too. Friend that suggested it has an older dog that was peeing on bedding, she washed items in it. I only had trouble with peeing on carpet, sure works well on that after it dries, (sort of stinks until dry).
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Here's a simple solution if hubby can't hit the toilet any more.... have him sit down to pee... I was overhearing a couple of young fellows who were in their mid 30's, former basketball players, who were in our office, talking about how much easier it is to sit down to pee then to stand up because of back injuries playing ball, and the fact they were so tall. And they were serious about this.

And hubby better not think it is an insult to sit down and pee like a girl. Otherwise, hand him the Comet and the sponge and tell him to clean up his mess. My Mom [97] is doing that every thing with Dad [93] to get him to wear Depends. It's working, recently Dad bought a package of Depends :)
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A neighbor with similar problem had their bathroom remodeled to include a urinal and all tile surround, and their shower is customized so that the entire bathroom can be sprayed down with one of two shower sprays (long hoses). It greatly simplifies ALL bathroom messes to just spray it all down the drain. There's no woodwork in there, of course. I dream of doing this in my own home (with a bidet instead of urinal).
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First time I noticed all tile bathrooms, with a floor drain, was 30 years ago over in Europe, great idea. Surprised it hasn't caught on here in the States.
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Pull up any carpet. Clean the sub floor with diluted bleach or your choice of cleaner. When dry have lonolium laid. have the installer pull the toilet so the lino goes under the potty. Seal the bottom of the toilet with silicone and the base of the walls adjacent. If you don't have or can't install tile around the toilet area use a good quality washable paint. Put a seat on the toilet that has the gap in the front. Wash everything down daily or as necessary. Keep a bucket of bleach water and gloves nearby if safe. The silicone will prevent urine running under the walls where you can't clean it up. Putting an old towel round the toilet may also help and can be washed daily or put into a bucket of bleach water till you have a washer load ready
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