Although the day ended well, Kate was confused again yesterday. It started in when I got her up. It wasn’t the kind of confusion in which she indicated not knowing where she was or who she was, but that was probably true. There were moments when I don’t believe she recognized me, but she didn’t say so. She vacillated between being trusting and being suspicious of me.
When I approached her bedside to wake her, she responded with a smile. In this respect it was similar to the other day when I rushed her, and her mood changed. We had plenty of time and no obligations. I was determined to avoid rushing her. When I reached out my hand to help her up, she pulled away and didn’t want me to touch her. I followed her instructions. She asked where the bathroom was. I told her I would show her. (She often likes to take my hand right after getting up. She walks a few steps and then drops my hand. Sometimes she holds it all the way to the bathroom.) I reached out my hand. She didn’t take it. Then she took one step and grabbed my hand.
Once we were in the bathroom, she needed me to tell her exactly what to do. This was not the first time, but she looked more confused than usual. I pointed out the toilet. She gave me a look that I interpreted as “Is this it?” I said, “Yes.” I helped her wash her hands and put toothpaste on her toothbrush. She takes a long time. I left her to go back to the kitchen where I could see when she was through via the video cam.
She was in the bathroom a while before coming out. When I saw her, I went back to help her dress. This was a morning when she didn’t want my help. I did help her get started and then went back to the kitchen. I won’t go through the whole saga, but it was almost an hour before she was dressed and that was only because I went back to check on her periodically during that time. The downside of that was that she felt rushed. Several times she snapped at me to leave her alone. She apologized each time. She was genuinely sorry.
She enjoyed the music during the ride to lunch, but her mood changed as we waited for our food. Carla’s serves brunch on the weekends, and it is a popular place. It was very noisy, and it took a little longer to get served. That caused her to be a little grumpy. Once the food arrived, she was all right.
She seemed a little listless when we got home. I decided to try something new. I hooked up my laptop to the TV in our bedroom to show her some old slides taken when our children were born. I thought that might brighten her day. I showed her several slides. She didn’t respond as I had hoped. She said she was tired and wanted to rest. We went back to the family room where she rested on the sofa for about an hour. She rested a little over an hour before we went to Barnes & Noble for a while before dinner.
After dinner, I suggested we look at one of her photo books. She wasn’t enthusiastic but agreed. We started to look at one, and she said she was tired. I decided it might be good for us to go back to the bedroom and watch some music videos on YouTube . She took her iPad and worked puzzles while watching the videos. The day ended well.
I think she was confused a good bit during the entire day. There were periods when she seemed to be fine, but she seemed more dependent on me than usual. It appeared that she was worn out. That wouldn’t surprise me. She works hard to understand what is going on around her, but it is increasingly difficult for her.
