I’m not sure at all, but it looks like Kate might be moving toward a schedule to sleep later on a more regular basis. That may relate to the fact her doctor put her back on Trazadone to see if we might be able to stop her erratic sleep pattern and, possibly, the recent trouble I have had getting her ready for bed. It’s too early to tell, but she has slept later everyday since starting her Trazadone.
There are always other things that get my attention and deserve an appropriate response. Yesterday, I got her up about 12:45. She was in a good humor and got up rather easily though getting her out of bed is beginning to be a problem. It is hard for her to sit up on the side of the bed, so I hold her right hand with mine and put my arm around her back just below her shoulders. It isn’t as easy for both of as I would like. It’s tough to lift her with my arm under her back, and Kate doesn’t like my doing it. She screams as she reaches a sitting position. This may be a problem with arthritis, but she only complains of it in that moment.
Once she was ready, we were off to pick up a takeout lunch from Andriana’s where we usually eat on Sunday. Everything was going well until getting home. So well, I didn’t expect what would happen next. When I opened her door to get out of the car, she sat there as though I were going in the house by myself. I said, “Let’s get out of the car and eat our lunch.” She didn’t say anything. She just sat there looking straight ahead. I extended my hand and asked her to take it. She was silent. For a couple of minutes, I tried to interest her in going in the house with me. She told me she would just sit there. The look on her face told me she was bothered by something (likely “someone”) that she thought was inside. I asked if she could tell me what was wrong. She gave her typical reply, “I don’t know.”
As usual, I didn’t push her. I just told her I would go ahead with my lunch and to call me if she wanted to come in. I went in and set the table for us and got drinks ready. Then I went back to see if she would like to come in. She came with out a problem. She didn’t seem disturbed once inside, but she ignored the food on her plate. I always cut her meat, use her fork to pick up the first and gave it to her. She liked it. I got another piece and placed the fork on the table and told her she could enjoy the rest. For several minutes, she didn’t eat or drink anything. She just sat there. I asked her about it. She asked where it was. I told her it was on her plate right in front of her. She made no effort to eat. I made several more efforts, but she just sat there. She seemed all right except that she wasn’t talkative and made no attempt to eat.
I went ahead with my meal. I had a salad first. When I finished it, I got up to rinse out the container in which it came. I walked to her and fed her another bite. She ate it. When I asked if she liked it, she said she did. On the way back to the table, I stopped and fed her another couple of bites. She ate them willingly and seemed to enjoy them. She didn’t eat anything after that.
I finished my meal and cleaned up and returned to the table to sit with her. As I had done before, I gave her several more bites. Then I sat with her for the rest of the meal. It must have been 5-10 minutes before she took her first bite, but she continued to eat until there were only a few bites left.
When she was through, I asked her to come with me into the family room where I wanted to show her something. She didn’t respond. It was just like she was in the car. She just sat there without saying anything or making any effort to get up. I told her I was going to the family room and told her I would like her to join me when she would like.
She remained there for about thirty minutes when I went back to ask if she could join me, and she accepted. We looked at one of her photo books a short time before having Zoom call with our daughter and son. She said very little while on the call and closed her eyes for most of it.
She surprised me again when I ordered a takeout meal and asked her to come with me to pick it up. It was one of her passive-aggressive responses. She wasn’t rude or hostile. She just said she wasn’t going. She was right. I phoned and cancelled the order.
We weren’t that hungry anyway because we had eaten so late, so we skipped dinner and retired for the night. We got in bed and watched a series of YouTube videos of musical performances and enjoyed them together. It is unusual for us to watch TV in bed, but I just thought it would be nicer than sitting in our chairs. It was a great way to end the day.
