Yesterday was not a good day for Dad. Kate and I had gone out to together to see him with plans to go to dinner afterwards. When we got there, he was under the sheet and spread as usual. When I tried to wake him, I noticed that he was much more difficult to awaken than normal. I tried more than 5 times to get him from a seated position and into his wheel chair without success. Finally, he was able to turn around and sit in the chair. He did greet Kate but not in the normal way that he would have. He was very groggy. I also noticed that he was perspiring. This was not a special surprise in that he was under the covers and wearing a sweatshirt and the AC was not on. Yesterday was in the mid-80s.
We went to the dining room where he mostly sat in front of his food. He did eat his tomato soup and sampled his carrots and chicken and dumplings. He was never very alert during the whole time we were with him.
Kate and I went from there to Hathaway’s. We have often done so on a Wednesday. We sat in a booth in the bar and enjoyed our usual dinner of grilled salmon with asparagus. As we often do, we also shared a key lime pie for dessert.
Kate had been to see Dr. Reasoner before we went to see Dad. She got a prescription for another medication (Namenda) the doctor had mentioned in earlier visits. She also got a prescription for something to help with hot flashes. When signing in at the doctor’s office, Kate forgot Dr. Reasoner’s name and came over to me to ask what it was.
I believe she was down a little after the visit. We spoke briefly about the visit at dinner, but she said she didn’t want to talk about it any further. After finishing dinner, she said, “”Could we just go home and cuddle?” Naturally, I said yes. I put on some music and got into bed and held her. I have mentioned in other posts that we have embraced more strongly and meaningfully since her diagnosis more than a year ago. Such was the case last night. When I first saw her this morning, I mentioned our having a nice evening, and she couldn’t remember. This is yet another example of how Alzheimer’s affects both parties. She felt she had had an experience but was robbed of it because she couldn’t remember. I was also disappointed because part of remembering is remembering together. I know that we will have more of these experiences as time passes.
