Over the past week Kate has been more confused than usual. Her morning confusion is more than her typical grogginess that I am used to. She has no idea where she is when she wakes up. A couple of times, including yesterday, she thought she was in Texas. She said how good it felt “to be here.” I agreed. I was happy that she was not troubled in the least. All day long she asked me where we were. I gave her all sorts of variations hoping I might give her exactly what she wanted. Most often, I said, “We’re in Knoxville, Tennessee.” Sometimes I just said Tennessee. On the way home after dinner last night, she wanted something more specific. I told her we were in Oakwood.
She continues to work on her puzzles even though she has more trouble than in the past. Two nights ago, she asked for my help after dinner. This was one of those cases when she wanted me to explain what she was to do. I tried to keep it simple. I attempted to get her to look for the edge pieces. I was actually surprised that she seemed to catch on and then would immediately try to put an edge piece in the center of the puzzle or select a piece that was not an edge. I spent a good thirty minutes “helping” her. I didn’t have much success. On the other hand, when I left her to take a shower, she seemed to get along all right. Since completing jigsaw puzzles requires rational ability, it is surprising that she can work them at all. As I have suggested before, she appears to go through a trial and error process to place each piece rather than using either the shapes or colors to help her. It takes her seven to ten minutes to complete a 16-piece puzzle.
Along with the confusion, she often does things I can’t explain. For example, as I was finishing up my shower the other night, she came into the bathroom with her iPad, cup, and winter coat. I said something about my planning to come back to the bedroom in a few minutes, she turned around and walked into the bedroom. She didn’t know where to go. I suggested she take a seat in her chair and work on her iPad. She did.
When it was time for her to put on her night clothes, she wanted to do it herself. I gave her the night gown. She struggled with it trying to distinguish the top from the bottom and the front from the back. She had to call for my help. That’s not a new thing, but it is one more example of the growing number of things that are problems for her.
