When I first started this blog I thought it would be therapeutic, but I really haven't been keeping it up like I thought I would. It's just that lately every time I think of something to post it is usually negative and I don't really want this blog to be a history of degrading events that have happened to dad.
For the longest time the effects of the dementia have been slowly progressing, but lately dad's memory seems to be becoming worse at a faster pace. Usually when we go for rides dad will read all the signs we pass...it's like having a child that is learning to read. But more and more lately he will ask what a certain letter in a word is or even just not recognize the word. I have also noticed that he forgets words when he's talking. We will be having a conversation and he just stops in the middle of his sentence because he either can't remember the word he was going to say, or forgets what it was he was talking about. Another thing I've noticed about his speech lately is that there are times when he just talks nonsense. He will say something that makes no sense at all to me and then get upset when I don't understand what it is he is trying to tell me.
Not too long after mom died Suzy and her family were here in Utah with dad for some family function and dad had a bad fall, so we took him to a walk-in medical center here in town. Boy oh boy! I never realized what a flirt dad was! He was really flirting with the nurses. When I said something to Suzy about she mentioned that he's that way with cashiers at stores too. That's when we started marking dad's decline by the age he was acting. We figured he was acting like a flirty teenager then.
A while back he went through that stage that kids go through when they are about nine and everything is a joke. Ug! That was awful! I remember before I had kids and was around my nieces and nephews at that age and how crazy it made me...then once I had my own kids I dreaded their 9th birthday!
Lately, dad bounces back and forth between a six year old that can't make up his mind and a four or five year old that has no attention span. I have learnt not to give dad choices. If you give dad a choice about something he has a really hard time deciding...if we are at a restaurant it saves time and hassle just to decide for him and then when the food comes tell him it's what he ordered. And then there are times when his attention span is all but gone. The other night I was in his room turning down his covers and getting his denture cup ready while he was getting into his pj's. He did okay getting his pajama top on, but when it came time to take off his pants and put his pajama bottoms on it literally took 20 minutes! He just couldn't keep the thought in his head that he was changing his pants. He would start to unbuckle his belt, then stop and just stand there staring at his dresser with his hands in his pockets. I would remind him what he was doing and he would start again, but then was quickly distracted. It just broke my heart to see how quickly the thought went right out of his head.
So I haven't wanted to blog about all this, but then yesterday morning dad was still asleep and Eli needed to get something out of dad's room. When Eli went into the room dad was sleeping soundly. Then as he was headed out, dad kinda stirred in his bed and said, "Good morning Mrs. Thomas" ...When dad is asleep, he is at peace. In his dreams everything is okay, he still has mom and his memories.
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