Colleena, Hi, I just wanted to say again when a person is in pain 24/7 they can think of little else.. I still think if his pain were addressed he would be able to concentrate on other things.. I know my mother is unable to even read when shes in pain.. Once she has taken her pain relievers she does much better.. Love D

HI, my hubby is in the same condition. I bought him a 12 gallon goldfish tank, put some plants and a figurine looks like an old battleship in it. He enjoys that. Our living room has large corner windows that go to the floor and I put a birdbath and two hummingbird feeders (we have some that stay here year round). Then I put a shallow clay pot on the ground that the rabbits can drink out of and put a spot light with a timer on it so he can see them at night. We also have coyotes visit once a week or so and have seen havilinas three times. The windows overlook the street and he likes watching the people. We live in a retirement community so there are a lot of walkers to watch. Then I keep current magazines. I have cousins all over the world and we send jokes every day. I print those out for him to read.
I know what you mean about them losing touch. Sometimes he gets that lost, far-away look and it hurts me so much to see that. I have to do a lot of quick thinking sometimes to bring up a subject to divert his mind.
I even keep notebook by my computer with things I see in the news, like, Des Moines is where he grew up and I can read that newspaper online then keep notes of anything that would be of interest to him. Then he gets going down memory lane sometimes and most always something funny is remembered.
Another day I cleaned out and sorted all our old photos and put some aside of our vacations and friends that I can show him and bring up a good memory.
Hope some of this helps. But I know your pain and think God Help us Too. We have to suffer with them.

Hazel those are some great tips.. I may do some of those things the fish tank would be calming and interesting,, Plus the birdfeeder Your a doll.. Love D

What about greeting cards? My mom always liked looking at them, even now sometimes. Maybe we could get a bunch of us together and send cards to each others mom or dad? My mom loves to get mail, other than bills!

If anyone wants to send out cards, I am more than happy to give you my address, and also return cards back to your loved ones, good for the holiday time do you think?

He needs a new hobby. Have him take a look at this wonderful forum, all for model rail road enthusiasts. Big time scratch building talent here and they share their know how so it is easy to start modeling. Not a lot of money involved to scratch build. Challenging and fun and you don't even need to have a train set to build in scale.

http://www.railroad-line.com/

Thank you for all the great ideas! I'm going to combine these ideas and will let you know what happens.