Yesterday he had balance issues and looked so sleepy. He sat in front of the tv with is eyes half closed and it took him forever to raise his hand to scratch his head and he left it up there for a minute without scratching. I am scared. New to this. He is only 67. He wanted to argue about driving but lasted only a minute. Thank you.
Last week, a nurse from our long term insurance company came to the house to interview him. She asked a bunch of typical questions....date, day....which he couldn't answer. She needed to see a photo ID and his Medicare card, so I sent him to get his wallet. He came back down with an old checkbook, some date stamps and some other unrelated material, but no wallet. Bad day.
Today, his son and grandson came to visit and I told them their task for the day was to find the wallet. Well, my husband went upstairs with them, opened the drawer of a dresser and pulled out the wallet, like he knew it was there all the time. Better day.
I can say my husband's mood does depend on how I deal with it...and that is a challenge,. I just got upset at him because he wanted to go home...I think it hurts me because he doesn't think of me as his wife nor does he think of our home as his. We have been married 45 years, And I would have never thought he would
not remember. So I overreact...and get upset....I know it is the disease but it is hard sometimes to not get upset. So i guess a good day is when he is calm and not anxious .When he is calm so am I. I almost forget he has dementia. It is definitely one day at a time.
TRY TO FIND GOOD MOMENTS & let the rest go. God Bless you!!!!!
As a professional caregiver, I try not to judge good and bad days because these diseases are progressive. When I started caregiving, I used to make mental evaluations, but I gave that up because the comparisons were making me discouraged--as if I were not doing a good enough job on a bad day. I would beat myself up, then I gave up judging. I suggest you record his behaviors everyday so you can see the patterns. Also if you record your interventions, then you can see if what you did made a difference. Caregiving is a sure-fire path to burn out. Please take care of yourself.
dementia progresses but I do agree a good day is no falls