Confusion in the Morning

Kate was getting dressed when I went to check on her at 10:30 this morning. She asked my name. I told her, and she said, “I knew that. I just couldn’t remember. What’s your name again?” I told her again. She said, “Oh, you’re a nice guy.” Then I said something about our being married. She said, “We’re married? How did that happen?”

She sat down in the family room to take her morning meds. I heard her call my name. (She still does pretty well recalling my name when she needs something. I suspect it is a conditioned response. It occurs without thinking.) She had noticed a TCU magazine on the table and asked if she could take it with us. A minute or two later, she had forgotten asking me. She asked, “Is this ours or theirs?” She may have been thinking we were in a hotel. I told her it was ours. She said, “So I can take it with us?”

As we were leaving for lunch, she decided to use the bathroom. She pointed to the door beside her and asked, “Is this a bathroom?” I confirmed her suspicion. It’s just another indication of how the house is becoming less familiar to her.

Acid Reflux?

I don’t know how I could have failed to say something about what may be a recurrence of acid reflux. This is an old problem for which we found a resolution two or three years ago. Since that time she has taken a prescription for Prilosec that had solved the problem. About six months ago, she experienced a couple of instances of the problem. I thought the problem had gone away on its own. Kate said she was eating more slowly which she believed helped to prevent a recurrence

I can’t recall exactly when, but she started using extra paper napkins at restaurants. This typically occurs before she has even eaten anything. As I reflect, it is something that occurs at various time during the day. She goes through lots of toilet paper which I now believe may be associated with this problem. Let me describe the problem as well as I can

Unlike her previous experience with acid reflux, what she is experiencing now does not involve exactly the same symptoms. When she has had the more serious experiences, she has to stop eating. She usually lowers her head slightly and appears to be trying to calm herself. With the current problem, she can continue to eat. As I have already mentioned, she will be having the experience before food arrives at our table

To me it appears that she is simply spitting up saliva. I do not see any visible signs that she is experiencing acid creeping up her esophagus. It is more like the normal salivation collects in her mouth, and she spits it out. I think one reason I haven’t mentioned it before was that it never seemed like something serious. In the past month or so, the problem has become more serious and seems to bother her. In fact, last night she had some difficulty getting to sleep because of it. I suspect it was more than an hour before she got to sleep after going to bed. She got up at one point. I heard her burping in the bathroom next to our bedroom. That led me to give her some Gaviscon. Before she was taking Prilosec, I gave her Gaviscon when she had a problem. It always seemed to work. I have tried it several times recently without the same success. I am not certain that it helps at all. I do know that she finally settled down and slept well during the night

About three weeks ago, I sent a message online to Dr. Reasoner, Kate’s doctor. She suggested that we try several things. She said we could take a second Prilosec in the evening. She also said if that didn’t work, we could try her taking an antihistamine. Finally, we recommended staying away from acidic foods and beverages. I tried doubling Prilosec and could not tell any difference at all. I dropped that. I then tried adding a Claritin with her morning medications. I have not been able to detect a change though I plan to continue to give it a fair chance of success. My reason is that I think her symptoms seem more like a post-nasal drip which sounds like an allergic reaction
One other symptom has made me think of the situation as more serious than I originally did. Within the past 4-6 weeks, I have noticed that she sometimes starts burping when she takes her pills. That made me think there might actually be a gastro-intestinal source of the problem. On the whole, however, I find it very confusing. What I know is that it has become a chronic condition that annoys her. It also concerns me that it might possibly be a symptom of something more serious. Unfortunately, Kate is unable to provide any kind of description. I am hoping that we might have a conversation with her doctor. I think her next appointment is in January or February

Kate does drink a lot of tea and Dr. Pepper. That would be the next step to try. That will be a hard one as these are long-standing habits.

Back Home

We got back in town and went directly to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Chalupas. It was quite a contrast to the meals we have eaten the past few days in Asheville, but it was just what we needed. I know I picked up a couple of pounds while we were away. I need to take some of them off
I brought our suitcases inside. I put mine in our bedroom and Kate’s in her office. I opened hers and took out a few things – her shoes and put them in her closet. I also took a pair of slacks and a couple of tops and put them in my closet so that I would know where they are. I’d like to take them to Texas with us.

In less 30 minutes, I noticed that Kate had moved her suitcase into the family room. Typically she puts it in the kitchen or laundry room when she has unpacked her things. I didn’t think much of it but picked up the suitcase to take it back to our storage room. When I lifted it, I couldn’t help noticing that it was heavier than I thought it should be. I opened it up to find that she hadn’t unpacked anything. She had simply moved the suitcase from the bedroom into the living room. This led me to take the suitcase back to her office where I unpacked everything and hung up her clothes. Then I took the suitcase to storage. She hasn’t said anything. Nor have I. I am sure that she wouldn’t remember anything about it, and it serves no purpose to inquire.

She continues to exhibit other misunderstandings or to have imagined things that didn’t happen. At dinner this evening, she commented on how spicy our dish was. I mentioned that to the server when he asked how we liked our food. Kate told him it was her own fault, that she had asked for it that way. Some time after he had gone, she told me she asked for it to be spicy, that he had not even asked. She just volunteered. Actually, she didn’t say word. I did all the ordering, and spiciness never came up.

On the way home, Kate said it was early. That led me to say we might take a look at what is on TV tonight. Then she said, “I think I will work on my new computer.” I said, “That would be nice.” For weeks now she has periodically mentioned something about a new computer. Each time I have told her she doesn’t have a new one but the same one she has had. This time I just accepted what she said.

Then when we got home, she said, “I think I will stay outside for a little while. I’ll change shoes though. I wouldn’t want to get these messed up.” It has been about 40 minutes, and she is still outside. I think she is still wearing the same shoes. I know she hasn’t been inside, but she might have changed to some yard shoes she keeps in the garage.

More Memory and Deja vu Issues

Nothing dramatic has occurred since my entry last night, but I did want to mention a couple of things. First, we were watching Breaking Away via Netflix when she got up to take her medicine. I turned off the movie while she was away. When she returned, I started it again in the place where we were when she left. In a few minutes when we had reached a place that was clearly beyond where I had stopped before, she said, “I remember this part.” I said, “From when?” She looked at me funny as though I had asked a dumb question and told me “right before I go my medicine.”

This afternoon we went to see a movie that had been produced and directed by a man who had grown up in Knoxville but now lives in New York. In part of the movie, it mentioned that he had grown up here and showed pictures of his house and neighborhood that looked very much like a neighborhood near us. After the film, I made reference to this and discovered that she had either forgotten that he was from Knoxville or simply missed it. We had even talked with someone who sat next to us who mentioned that the producer/director had spoken to his Kiwanis club this past Wednesday. He had talked about growing up here and how that related to his adjustment to being gay. Still she missed the fact that he was from Knoxville.

Tonight we went our for pizza. She walked up to the counter with me to pay. We spoke with the owner who was handling the cash register. He said something to her, and she said, “Oh, yes, you told me that last time.” This was her first time to talk with him. This is similar to what she says to me all the time. It comes up a lot when she asks a question that she has asked before; however, she also says it when she hasn’t asked the question before. I think it must be her way of covering for herself.

It is these kinds of experiences that make me think that she is missing much more of what is said in conversations, plays, movies, etc. than one would otherwise suspect.

Getting Tired

For the past week or so, Kate has been getting more tired than usual. In fact, she seems lethargic except when she is outside working in the yard. Fortunately, she has been doing that more recently as the weather is not as hot.

I probably would not make much of this except that it has been accompanied by less enthusiasm for doing things she would normally like to do. For example, yesterday was PEO day. She got ready without any difficulty, but she did not seem eager to go. She was very lethargic. In the car she closed her eyes as if she were going to sleep.

When I dropped her off, the past president of her chapter, walked over to the car and greeted me but not Kate. Then she turned around and walked up the drive and into the house without waiting for Kate. I felt sorry for Kate. This is the kind of thing that tends to happen when people know you have Alzheimer’s. I don’t think they mean anything by it. I think they believe that the person with Alzheimer’s just doesn’t notice or care. This is similar to the fact that people seem to look at me more when we are together in a social situation. I have to admit that some of this happens (I think) because Kate may communicate less than she used to do. It is harder for her to get into an extended conversation than in the past. I see signs that this is becoming more common.

Another sign of this lethargy occurred this afternoon. After we returned from lunch and a shopping trip, she said she was going to try and rest. Just before 4:30, she came into the kitchen. She seemed a little groggy as though she had just awakened. We hugged. Then she said she thought she would go out on the patio. I opened the door for her, and we both went out and sat for about 30 minutes. She indicated that she was hungry and would like to eat early. I made reservations for 5:30. She seemed tired on the way as well as when we sat down at the table. She was not talkative which is not unusual. When we left the restaurant, I commented on the fact that it was early (6:30) and said that we could watch the movie Breaking Away when we got home. She indicated that she would be ready for bed. We had not gotten very far in the movie when she started falling asleep. I turned the TV off.

Before we left for dinner, Camille called me to say that she would like to invite Kate to lunch sometime and wanted to know when would be a good time. I suggested this coming Monday. I told her to call back for Kate on the landline, and she could ask Kate but first we should establish the time so that I could make sure she is ready. We decided on noon. In a couple of minutes she called back, and I put Kate on the phone. She was thrilled that Camille had invited her. I will have to tell Camille how much this meant to her.

These kinds of things have made me think once again that Kate is going through another period of decline. First, it was the decline in short-term memory. Now it appears that she is losing the ability to focus on things which leaves her with little to do. This may be exacerbated by having to work so hard to follow things that she is withdrawing a little bit. At the same time, she is working so hard that she is worn out.

Knowing is better than not knowing.

Although Kate clearly wanted to know if she had Alzheimer’s, there have been times when each of us wondered which is better. I am now confident it is better to know. It has given us a higher quality of life together than we would have had otherwise. If we hadn’t found out, we would have continued on our merry way as we had been doing before knowing. This is strange because we both (especially Kate) felt for a long time that she had AD. But knowing took away the doubt and made us stop and take advantage of the good time we have together. In every respect, the days since diagnosis have been the best of our marriage. Even as I say this I know that the future will bring on the worst times. At least we will have made good use of our time since Jan. 21, 2011.

Another Small Sign of Things

Kate was with me when we met with Dad yesterday afternoon. She also knew I was out late at the hospital with him last night. This morning I spoke with her by phone before going out to see him. When I got back home, she had been working out in the yard. When she came in, she didn’t ask me about Dad at all. If it were not for her AD, she would have asked me right away about him. As it was, I simply told her. I am confident she would have asked at some point, but at that moment she had completely forgotten about him. I see this kind of thing all the time. While this incident has no negative consequences, there are times that it does because I will assume she has remembered something when it turns out she hasn’t.

Last week she missed a neighborhood association board meeting because she had forgotten. She hadn’t told me about it. That reminds me she hasn’t told me about her next hair appointment. She generally does this shortly after coming back from her previous appointment.