Symptoms

Yesterday our daughter Jesse called to coordinate plans for a couple of trips to see her and her family. Kate had just taken a shower and was getting dressed. I put the phone on speaker and walked back to her room. I told her it was Jesse on the phone. She said, “”Hi, Jesse.” Then she waved me out so that she could finish dressing. When she was ready, she walked by me as I was talking. Then she went outside to pull leaves. Before her Alzheimer’s, she would never have done this. She would have eagerly gotten to the phone and enjoyed a conversation with her daughter

I called Kate’s doctor’s office shortly after 9:00 this morning. I left a message for the nurse. Her doctor was out of the office today. They said the nurse would get back to me. I then called the agency that provides the sitter who was to have been here at noon. I let them know that we might have to go to a doctor’s appointment and that we might not need a sitter. They understood.

After getting up a second time this morning, Kate got dressed to go out for her muffin. She was moving very slowly and acted the same way she had been a good bit of the past 3 days, but we went ahead to Panera. We stayed for about an hour. When we got home, she went back to bed. At noon, I asked if she felt like eating. She said no. This was the first time she had not wanted to eat at mealtime during her illness. Before I ran out to get a sandwich, I received a call from the doctor’s nurse saying we could see another doctor at 1:30. I told her we would be there

Kate got up when I told her we had an appointment, but she was moving very slowly, once again walking as though she was very unsure of herself. They took us in right away and took her vital signs. Everything looked fine. The doctor asked for me to give an account of what had been going on. I did. She said they wanted to draw blood and get a urine sample and that the results would be available tomorrow

When we left, Kate seemed much better. We stopped by Panera to get her a sandwich and stayed an hour. As we reached the house, she asked, “What can I do?” I told her that she could work in the yard. Then she asked me, “Where?” I told her she could start in the back if she wanted to. Then we both came inside a few minutes. Then she asked, “Now what?” Before I could answer, she asked, “”My room or the bedroom?” I assumed she had decided to work on her iPad inside.” I told her that I thought she had said she wanted to work outside. She said, “”I would like to.” She was outside for about an hour before I went out to see if she wanted to get ready for dinner. She said she was just about to come inside anyway. When she is ready, we will go to Chalupas for dinner.