A Very Good Day

This is one of those days that demonstrates that someone with Alzheimer’s can have good days. That is exactly what Kate has experienced today. Her mood all day long has been quite good. If it were not for the fact that she still couldn’t remember anything, I would have said she is as normal as she was years ago.

While the whole day was good, it was really late this afternoon and this evening that were the best. I had arranged a phone call with Tina, her cousin in Alaska. Prior to the phone call Kate was pulling leaves outside. When I went out to get her she came right away and was cheerful. In fairness to her, she has been coming in rather quickly most of the time when I call her now. That makes me feel a lot better.

We had a nice phone call with Tina although Kate had gotten hot and sticky and wanted to take a shower; so I finished up the conversation for her. This is the kind of thing she would never have done pre-Alzheimer’s. Yesterday Kevin called. She was on the phone a little while. Then she got in bed to rest.

After Kate had showered she was ready to go eat. There was a threat of rain. When we left it was not raining. Less than a half-mile from the restaurant the bottom dropped out. We sat in front of the restaurant about ten minutes waiting for it to let up. Finally, I remembered that we had some Stouffer’s lasagna in our freezer. I mentioned it to Kate, and we decided to come home. While I heated the lasagna in the microwave, Kate got out plates and napkins and silverware. This was the first time I can recall her taking anything like this kind of initiative in years.

After eating the lasagna, I mentioned that I might have some yogurt for dessert. She got it out for me, took the top off, and put a spoon in it and placed in front of my seat at the island. Again, I haven’t seen anything like this in years.

It was about 7:45 when we finished our yogurt. At 8:00, there was an ETV program on wildlife in Alaska coming on. We watched the entire show together. I mean we both watched without doing anything else. That is the first time I recall doing anything like that in years as well. During the program, Kate was quite talkative, making references to things that were shown on TV. Then when it was over at 9:00, she said good night. It had been a very good day.

One other thing I should mention. We talked about how nice it was to have the lasagna at home. She said, “We should do this more often.” I was wondering when we might transition to eating at home again. Maybe it will be sooner than I had expected.