A Door is a Door...

Eli and dad were recently at Utah Valley University's library with Tanner, checking out movies. While waiting for Tanner, dad needed to go the bathroom; so Eli decided to go along.

Dad was quicker then Eli, and as dad was washing his hands couple of students were also washing their hands. When dad was done, he was a bit confused by all the doors and asked the two students which door went out. After pointing out the correct door to dad, the two students started making fun of dad. While they were laughing, Eli (still in the stall) "politely" informed the two students that dad had dementia and they better pray that when they are 82 they don't have to deal with the same issues.

After Eli told me about this incident, I realized that when dad asks where his room is if we aren't exact in explaining what door goes to his bedroom, he get confused. He sees the doors to the pantry next to the door to his bedroom and doesn't know which one we are talking about. Dad's memory loss has been a very slow process, and he still does really well but incidents like this kind of open our eyes to how dad's mind works and how we need to be helping him.

The Black Hole...

Things in dad's room have a way of disappearing. It's really kind of mind-boggling. Dad will have something in his hand and go in to his room, then come out later asking if anyone has seen whatever it is he was carrying.

It's funny, when we were down in Oceanside in August, Suzy asked me if dad's room still has a black hole in it. I had to laugh!

Yesterday Eli & I took dad out to lunch for Veteran's Day. Half way through lunch I noticed dad was wearing his reading glasses. When I asked him where his other glasses were he told me his didn't know. Eli said he had come out of his room wearing his reading glasses in the morning & when he went looking he couldn't find the other ones. I told him the regular places to look...hanging on the lampshade, inside his scripture case, and in his sock drawer are most common.

When I got home from work I saw dad was still wearing his reading glasses, and Eli told me he had been unable to find the other ones. Thinking to myself, "why is it always the mom that has to find things?" I went to check all dad's hiding places. I looked everywhere, even under the bathroom sink. No glasses anywhere...I did find some pants that I'd searched all his drawers looking for the other day though! I even went back in at bedtime and double checked everywhere. Still no glasses.

Today when I got home, I half expected to see dad wearing his glasses. Nope, still no glasses. There is an eyeglasses store in Orem called America's Best that sells two pair of glasses starting at $69. What a great idea, I can hide the extra pair for when dad misplaces the ones he usually wears. I went online and made dad an appointment for tomorrow. I was thinking it will be nice to have an extra pair, but we will probably end up waiting a week for the new ones to arrive.

It's my turn to teach Relief Society this Sunday, so I was getting my books together to come up to my room and work on the lesson, when I got an impression to check dad's dresser one more time. I had already checked in several times, but figured once more couldn't hurt.

Dad has lots of pictures and other trinkets on his dresser. As I was looking around, I started picking up the pictures & looking behind them...thinking, "there isn't room here for a pair of glasses." Then I noticed dad's watch case. It's a vertical jewelry case with a glass front and three padded dowels the size of a watch band for holding watches. Down at the bottom of the case a piece of glass caught my eye. Dad's glasses! I guess when he was putting his watch away, he placed his glasses in there too. One more place to add to the list of hiding places for lost stuff!

We will still keep the eye appointment tomorrow, but at least now dad can wear these glasses while we wait for the new ones.