That is fantastic that she could laugh about it. Being able to laugh at ourselves is a blessing.

My mom called me the other day. "how do you get the 4 off the TV?" "mom what 4" "the four on the TV" "do you mean the channel number is showing on the screen" "the number 4" Tried to explain that there is an info or display button on the remote.

Funny part of this story is that my mom isn't the one diagnosed with dementia :)

These are funny stories. My father does stuff like this all the time . He is probably in early dementia but actually since he had his recent surgery he is amazingly good cognitively. I have to do all my dads tv stuff!!! His last attempt at trying to watch a dvd ended up with a call out by a tech guy a whole host of cable replaced and a fee of 85 bucks LOL Don't ask me what he did or how he did it but he decimated the wiring LOL

Peanut I can top that. My brother was a senior engineer for Dell computers. Installed main frames all over the country.

A few years ago he went to visit my parents. He decided to rewire their TV, sound system, vcr etc. Well they are lucky that they have the TV to watch now. Had to disconnect everything and use just the TV.

It's amazing how hard it is for some people to do this. Even now I am amazed at how difficult they make TVs to work. I think we need Apple to design a system that works more automatically :)

That's hilarous !!! A senior engineer no less LOL What gets me is the masses of cables everywhere . I went through my Dads system a few weeks back just to see if I could slim down the amount of cables hanging out everywhere . It turned out that every single cable was needed !!! I did my best to tidy them up but they looked like some sinister Octopuss on his TV cabinet . !!!!! lol

Get some velcro ties. They should have them in the electronics department at Walmart. Or just get a roll of thin velcro in the sewing department. It makes it easy to tidy things.

Also get some tags to label the wires. Write where they come from and where they go to. For example "from TV output to surround input 1" or "from cable box output to TV input 2". Then if you have to move anything it's easy to hook up again.

I replied to this already but it has disappeared !!! Thanks for two great ideas !!! That's my project for the weekend for both my Dads and my own cables

Just talked to my mom. They never tried what I told her to do to get the channel number off the TV...lol I bet she forgot.

I was thinking about it and asked her if they turn the cable box off when they turn the TV off. She said no. So I told her to try turning it off since that should get rid of it.

How much do you want to bet that she forgot already?

She probably has but what can you do ?? :-) I was really scared of Blu rays and blu ray player when they came out first !! Far too new fangled for my liking and forgot everything my daughter tried to tell me about them . It was all too scary for me and I am only in my 40's LOL

Ok, so I read aloud all this to my nurse pal who worked in retirment homea AND dated a cable guy. We laughed and it spawned more ha ha's about our caregiver world.
Thanks for the smiles
P

ps. not certain if thos applies. But some local station have a station identification logo that is visible when viewing.?

Peaceful you could be right. I keep wondering about this because she only says the number 4. I assume they watch more than one channel but I could be wrong. They finally switched to cable a few years ago but never really learned what is on other channels. Honestly it is too much for either of them. They only watch TV in the afternoon and evening and sundowners is definately an issue.

But the number 4 is making me think that it is the TV itself that is doing this. Remember back when we had VCRs and had to tune to channel 3 or 4? Unless they really are just leaving the TV on one channel that number should change.

It's funny but very frustrating. I'm 2,000 miles away so things like this are impossible. I was hoping to find someone local who could check on them regularly but that hasn't happened yet. They are still to independent to accept help. I guess I am due to make another trip to see them after the holidays.

T, it is something like getting help for tv, etc..that will help tease out what will be helpful to them and you in more serious times. Maybe if you could afford for them a lap top with built in video. set up.Skype or Yahoo. so when these things happen they could point a lap top or camera toward what they need. Just a thought. Onr of my bro and I are musician and worked in electronics. He visits mom sundays by video to video. No extra fees here. just internet access. under 500 bought my lap top. Next on our list is a tablet. Mom learned how to use a kindle!!
I know you worry. Hang in there. It will sort out.
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My parents were both computer professionals. Unfortunately age and dementia have taken their ability to do more than some web surfing and email. I say some because there are days when they can't handle email or printing something. They become very frustrated and end up fighting.

But even untechno things have become difficult. My parents read the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times every morning. A week ago mom read an article that she thought I would be interested in. So she cut it out to send to me. Well the envelope came...it was a 8.5x11 with two sheets inside. She said it was too big for a letter size envelope...not even close to being too big but she couldn't fold it to fit. Then the facts in the article were very different from what she described on the phone.

I know how frustrating this disease can be. What is becoming clear is that my mom is also affected. The distance makes everything more difficult. I had thought of the laptop idea but I think it would be too complex for them. An itouch might work since it is much smaller and portable. Have to think about that more.

The real solution is that I need to find a way to move them closer. It is inevitable.