I am feeling like Kate is in the midst of a more serious downward spiral than she has experienced before. Her short-term memory is becoming weaker and weaker. The biggest issue with this is time. She seems not to have any sense of time. I am trying not to push her to get ready for things like our Y breakfast this morning. I do my best not to push her, but it is never easy.
Yesterday at 11:55, I got her to come in from outside so that we could get a bite to eat and go to a 12:50 movie. There was also a 3:45. I gave her the option of going to the later showing, but she chose the earlier one. At 12:35 I went back to check on her. She had just gotten out of the shower and was not dressed. She sternly told me not to say anything. I didn’t and decided to wait until she was ready.
Finally, at 2:00 (an hour and ten minutes past the start time for the movie) I went to check on her. I found her on the bed in the large guest room. I asked if she were getting hungry. She said, “yes.” She got up slowly, and we went to Panera. While there, I told her the movie would start at 3:45 which gave us time to go back home for a while. She never realized that she had forgotten about the 12:50 movie. In this case that was just fine. In other situations, we don’t have other options. For example, going to the symphony, Sunday school, a theater production, etc.
I have mentioned previously that I am only now seeing how important short-term memory is to daily functioning. This seems like the kind of behavior that we commonly associate with someone with dementia. I must admit that this scares me a bit.
