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Our Last Day in Memphis

On all our previous trips to see Jesse and her family we have gotten up early, or at least not late, on Christmas morning. That meant “really” early when the children were younger. As they’ve grown older, we have been ready to open presents between 8:00 and 10:00. This year was clearly different. Ron and Randy knew all the presents they were going to receive, so there were no surprises in store. In addition, Kate’s sleeping pattern caused us to get together whenever she was ready. Since we were not eating our Christmas meal until 5:00, I let Kate sleep as long as she wanted. She got up close to 1:30, and we arrived at Jesse’s at 3:30. I had told them to go ahead and open their presents, so it didn’t affect their plans.

That made for a very short, but nice, day for us. We enjoyed being with Jesse and Greg as they prepared the meal. Most of the time the boys were upstairs playing with their new Christmas presents. Jesse’s turkey turned out to be superb, just the way it has been the past couple of times she has cooked it for us. At the end of the meal, we took our plates to the kitchen. Jesse asked Kate if she would like her to take her plate. Kate accepted. As Jesse walked to the kitchen, I said, “Isn’t it nice to have your daughter take care of you like that?” Kate said, “My daughter?” I said, “Yes, your daughter.” She said, “What’s her name?” Before Jesse returned to the room, she asked her name two more times. Despite that, Kate handled herself beautifully. She participated in our conversation and didn’t say anything unusual. She didn’t walk around the downstairs rooms again, but she did comment on how beautiful the house is.

It wasn’t long after dinner that we came back to the hotel where we relaxed over an hour before Kate wanted to go to bed. She was in bed by 9:00. That should bode well for her getting up earlier today. We plan to meet Jesse and her family either at the hotel or some other place for lunch and then leave around 1:30.

I had wondered for a long time if we could make this trip. I am glad to say that it worked out well. It was very different from those in the past. We had considerably less time with Jesse and her family than before. Some of that arose simply because we stayed in a hotel rather than at their house. Just as important was the fact that we paced ourselves. I don’t think we were all together more than three hours at any one time. That was good for Kate who usually likes to do something different after a couple of hours.

Kate was able to enjoy herself. There was only one time when she seemed a little restless. That was yesterday afternoon just before we ate. For more than an hour, we had been sitting at the bar looking over the kitchen while chatting with Jesse and Greg as they prepared the meal. Kate got up and walked into the family room. I followed her. She asked me when we were leaving. I told her we would go right after dinner. Apart from that, she appeared quite comfortable if not enthusiastic. Of course, she had been very enthusiastic about Jesse’s house and Christmas decorations our first night there.

As for future travel, I believe I will limit it to one-night stays. I’m not sure how many of those we will have. If Kate continues to sleep late, going to visit Ellen in Nashville becomes a little more challenging. If we stayed overnight, that would make the trip less rushed. At the moment, I am not planning anything. I’ll just see how things unfold in the months ahead.

The only family event that I know of that could prompt another trip is to Texas is our granddaughter’s high school graduation. I would like to make that, but I don’t believe it is in the cards for us. I hope I am wrong.

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Merry Christmas

It’s Christmas morning, and I am thinking about all the households with young children who have been up for hours and eagerly unwrapping packages. Those are great moments to treasure. They don’t last forever. The children often sleep a little later as they get older. Life changes for all of us as we age. We don’t celebrate the season in the same way we did when we were younger.

One thing doesn’t change. We still have our memories of Christmas. I remember getting my Red Ryder BB Rifle when I was about nine or ten years old. It’s hard for me to believe that my parents allowed me to play with it around the neighborhood at that age. I also remember being excited over the Schwinn Black Phantom I received when I was twelve or thirteen. Those were among my most special Christmas gifts as a child.

The memories of the Christmas season that mean the most to me these days are the ones that Kate and I have shared. We had our first date on December 19, 1961. We went to a performance of Handel’s Messiah. December 19, 1962, we became engaged. On Christmas day six days later, we announced our engagement to Kate’s extended family at the family Christmas gathering at Kate’s home.

Over the years, we have enjoyed the season in different ways and in different places. We spent our first Christmas together with a trip to my home in West Palm Beach. That was Kate’s first time there. We spent our only Christmas alone in Madison, Wisconsin, during my first year in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin.

I have many treasured memories of Christmas Days we spent with each of our families. Until the children were around five or six, we rotated between our parents’ homes. After that, our parents came to us. As our children graduated from college and started their own families, we followed pretty much the same custom. We were introduced to the pleasure of watching grandchildren enjoy Christmas with the excitement that is unique to children.

Kate and I also started taking vacation trips during the first or second week of December. Three or four times we have enjoyed the Christmas season in New York City. That’s my favorite time of the year to be there. We have also enjoyed Christmas season travel to London, Paris, Vienna, and several places in Germany.

This Christmas we find ourselves in a very different place. Next year we won’t travel to be with our children and their families. There is no way for me to know exactly what Kate will be like next year, but she is likely to continue her decline.

Kate no longer has the memories of Christmas that have been so special to us. I tell her about them, and she experiences momentary pleasure in being reminded. She can’t, however, retain and reflect on them. I am sad about this. I’m sad for her, and I’m sad for me; however, there is still good news. Even though her world is growing smaller, she continues to enjoy life. I know from other caregivers that moments of pleasure often continue for a long time. Whatever happens, I retain my memories of Christmas and the joy we have experienced during this season, and I am grateful.

My wish for you is that you continue to create your own Christmas memories to treasure now and for the days to come. Merry Christmas.

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Christmas Eve

We had a nice day yesterday. It matched the activity level we have at home. We got out and had good times with Jesse and her family, but we had breaks that make it easier for Kate.

She got up before 10:30. That got us off to a good start. I don’t like having to wake her. That worked well for our plans to meet Jesse, Greg, and the boys for lunch at a new diner downtown. We met them at 12:30 and had a good time as well as a good lunch. Kate got a very large Turkey Club sandwich. It was about 4” high. I thought she might have trouble getting through half of it, but she ate “the whole thing.” She did it her way starting at the top slice of bread, pulling off one layer at a time and working her way down to the bottom. She wasn’t unusually talkative, but she enjoyed herself. All of us had a good time.

It was after 2:00 before we left. Jesse asked if we wanted to go back to their house or to the hotel. I decided to go back to the hotel for a little break and join them at the house around 4:00. Breaks like that seem to work well for Kate, and Jesse needed to run some errands. I tend to think of these breaks as something solely for Kate, but I also think they are for me. When we are in social situations, I feel a bit of pressure to be attentive to her as well as to enjoy myself with those we are with.

After the break, we returned to Jesse’s house for about an hour. Once again, Kate took great interest in the house. She made the same circle from room to room that she had done the previous evening. For her, it was like the first time she had seen it. She told me that it looked “much better than when we lived here.” That was almost identical to something she had said about our own house a couple of months ago when she took an hour going through it the same way she did at Jesse’s.

As the sun began to set, we went to see the Christmas lights at a seniors nursing facility a twenty-minute drive from their house. They have a large piece of property circled with a light display that Jesse described as “tastefully tacky.” As a fund raiser, they open the yard to the public. I expected Kate enjoy it more than she did. She didn’t say much. It was certainly nothing like her reaction to the décor and Christmas decorations at Jesse’s. From there we drove back into town for dinner at a small Italian restaurant near Jesse’s home. It’s a great neighborhood restaurant. We’ve eaten there quite a few times over the years and enjoyed it. It was perfect for last night.

When we got back to Jesse’s, it was 8:00. I thought it was a good time for us to say good night. We went back to the hotel where I watched a portion of the Broncos/Raiders game while Kate worked on her iPad. She was in bed before 9:30 though she was still awake when I joined her at 10:00. It had been a nice day.

She got up at 3:00 to go to the bathroom. I had trouble getting back to sleep after that. The last time I looked at the clock it was 4:05. I made up that hour by sleeping until 6:45. Continue reading “Christmas Eve”

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Happy Moments: Part 2

Shortly after I had explained to Kate that Karen is our daughter and Lee is her husband, she shifted her focus to our relationship. She was happy and said, “I am beginning to feel normal again.” I asked her to explain what she meant. She stumbled on her words, but said, “I am feeling at ease, and I attribute that to you.” She also thanked me “for bringing me here. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here.” She went on to say how much she appreciated my patience with her and how that helped her to feel relaxed. Over the next twenty minutes to our hotel, she continued to express that sentiment. In some of her comments, she noted how many things I do for her that she can’t do. I don’t think she was speaking specifically about things she couldn’t do because of Alzheimer’s, but that is the way it sounded.

When we got to the hotel, she said, “You are my best friend. I feel I can tell you anything. I trust you.” This was mixed with an extension of the conversation we had had in the car. She reiterated how relaxed she is with me. Twice she said, “I feel we just connect, and we haven’t known each other that long.” I started to tell her that I was her husband and that we have been married fifty-five years but decided not to say anything. At various points I thought she knew me as her husband. At others I wasn’t sure. I do know that near the end of our conversation she said, “What’s your name?” To me this was a dramatic illustration of the power of feelings over her rational mind. It is also a reminder that it is only a matter of time before she won’t remember either my name or that I am her husband, but I will treasure moments like this one. She was happy, and although I felt a touch of sadness, I was happy for her.

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Happy Moments: Part 1

Earlier this morning I mentioned that Kate was in a very good mood yesterday. That made it a good travel day. I never imagined what was in store after we arrived at Jesse’s house. The best was yet to come.

I certainly didn’t expect it as we were about to leave the hotel. She asked me where we were going. When I told her we were going to Jesse’s, she frowned. I asked what was wrong. She said, “I thought we were going to have dinner with just the two of us.” I told her I would like that too but that she would love seeing Jesse, our daughter, as well as our grandchildren, Randy and Ron. I am sure that she had forgotten that Jesse is our daughter, or she would have been more eager to go.

We ate dinner soon after getting there. Jesse, a vegetarian, had smoked a brisket on their Big Green Egg. This seems a bit ironic for a vegetarian, but her husband, Greg, travels a good bit, and her boys are meat eaters. She is accustomed to preparing non-vegetarian meals. The key, however, is that she takes great interest in entertaining and food. She cooks all kinds of things. Some time ago, she had actually talked about starting a catering service.

After our dinner, Kate started walking around the downstairs portion of the house while Jesse and Greg cleaned up the dishes. It was very much like the time she spent an hour walking around our house one night after we returned home from dinner. She asked Jesse how long they had lived in the house. Then she commented on what a nice house it is. The next thing I knew she had gone back to the dining room. She reacted as though this were the first time she had ever seen it, and we had just spent at least an hour eating and visiting in it. I walked with her as she took in all the Christmas decorations as well as the furniture and design of the house. She was amazed at what she saw and enthusiastic in her praise of Jesse’s house. I was never clear whether she realized that this was a house that Jesse and Greg had built or if she thought they were renting or had bought the house from someone else that had built it. Sometimes she said, “They really thought of everything.” Other times, she said, “The builder really thought of everything.”

Kate noticed most of the decorations, but I pointed out some that she seemed to miss. When she finished the circle from the kitchen to the dining room, to the living room, to the family room and back to the kitchen, she went around again. Each time she entered a room it was like the first time she had ever seen it. Several times she said, “I wish we had seen this house before we bought ours.” Off the kitchen there is door that leads to the laundry room and to the pantry. The door to the pantry was open enough for her to see in. The door to the pantry was closed, and she didn’t open it. She did, however, look at this area several times and called me to look. She commented on what a good job the builder had done. One time I opened the door to the pantry. That gave her something else to praise.

I don’t know how long this went on. It was quite a while, perhaps twenty or thirty minutes. She had a wonderful time. Jesse and I had just as much fun watching Kate enjoy herself. It was a surreal experience.

We left a short time later. As we backed out of Jesse’s driveway, Kate said, “That’s a beautiful house. Who is that lady?” I told her that was Jesse. She said, “She is really nice.” She asked her last name, and I told her. She asked about the man. I told her that was Greg, Jesse’s husband. Then she said, “How do we know them?” I hesitated a moment. What should I say? Then I told her that she is our daughter. She was taken aback. I immediately felt that I should have said something else. I could tell it bothered her momentarily that she hadn’t remembered that Jesse is her daughter, but it didn’t last long. That was the beginning of another story.

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The Ride to Memphis

After our early morning conversation yesterday in Nashville, I got up and dressed. Over the past year, I have requested a room that is near the breakfast area. That has worked well. I went to the lobby and brought my breakfast back to the room.

After being awake three different times the night before, I thought I would have to wake Kate to get her ready for the drive to Memphis. She surprised me as she often does. She got up around 9:15, and we made it to breakfast just before they closed at 10:00. She would have gone back to bed after her shower if I hadn’t told her they were getting ready to stop serving breakfast.

I was encouraged that we would be able to leave earlier than I had expected and sent a text to Jesse telling her that we would soon leave for Memphis. Then Kate wanted to rest again. She lay down on the sofa in our room and went to sleep. I woke her at 11:30, and we left the hotel just before noon.

Kate was in a very good mood and more talkative than usual. I have often mentioned that she gives higher evaluations to theatrical and musical performances than she would have done in the past. Recently, I also mentioned that she sees more beauty in things around her. She was very charitable in her assessment of the world around her yesterday. That lasted until she was sound a sleep last night. She liked the Residence Inn in which we stayed in Nashville. She loved the trees along the highway even though many of them were now without their leaves.

She was also very adaptable. We stopped at a Wendy’s for lunch. It was a cold day. When we got inside, she immediately commented on how cold it was. We discovered that the heat had gone our earlier that morning when it had been 27 degrees. I went to the car and got our jackets. She didn’t complain at all as we ate our meal in the cold. When I got up to get ketchup for her fries, I discovered that the two containers were empty. I mentioned it to an employee who (I thought) said he would take care of it. I thought he meant he was going to refill them and went back to our table. It was probably ten minutes before I went back for the ketchup. They were still empty. I asked again. This time the guy said they were out and asked if I wanted some. I told him I did. That is when he told me that they have it in packets. Earlier he had come back to the counter with them, but I had gone back to the table. He thought I didn’t want them. At any rate, Kate never complained about not having ketchup. She was simply happy to get it when it finally arrived.

I used to talk about Kate’s déjà vu experiences. The reason I haven’t mentioned them in a while is because she stopped having them (or talking about them). They were back yesterday. We had a detour that took us completely away from the highway and through a town we had never visited before. As we drove through it, she commented on different things she remembered. There were several other places along the road that she “remembered.”

About fifty miles out from Memphis, we passed homes along both sides of the highway. She commented on how nice they looked. She noted that they were small and unpretentious but kept up very nicely. She repeated this refrain for quite a while. I failed to see the same beauty, but I enjoyed the fact that she could see it.

Throughout the trip, she frequently asked, “Where are we?” and “Why are we here?” I explained that we were on the way to Memphis to celebrate Christmas with Jesse. Each time, she wanted to know who Jesse is. I told her that she is our daughter. Sometimes she was surprised that we have a daughter. Other times she remembered. When I mentioned her family, she asked Jesse’s husband’s name. When I told her, she almost always said, “He’s a nice guy.” That was not something new. She has been saying that for a long time.

We arrived in Memphis shortly after 4:00. We took a few minutes to unload the car. Then we were off to Jesse’s. It was a good travel day.

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Conversations in the Night

We didn’t have uninterrupted sleep night before last in Nashville. We got to bed around 10:00. A few minutes before midnight, Kate needed to get to the bathroom. As usual, she was confused about its location. I left the light on to make it easy, but that didn’t help at all. I helped her. When we got back in bed, she was very relaxed but talkative. She wanted to know where we were. I told her we were in Nashville. She was surprised, but that isn’t unusual. She could easily have felt the same way at home. She was not confused about who I am, however. She talked about our relationship and how fortunate we have been. She gave special attention to our children and how proud we are about both of them. I don’t know how long we (mostly Kate) talked. I suspect it was no more than fifteen or twenty minutes. At that time of the morning it seems longer. Off and on during that time, she asked me several times where we were. One time after she asked, I told her. She said, “I probably won’t remember.” I said, “That’s all right. You can ask as many times as you want.” She said, “I already forgot. Where are we?”

At 2:15, she needed to go to the bathroom again. I helped her. When she got back in bed this time, she did not remember my name or that I am her husband. Neither did she remember that we have children. She wanted to know where we were. We went through our usual question and answer conversation.

Around 6:00, she woke up and seemed quite alert. She was very talkative. Once again, she talked about our relationship, the good times we have had, her mother and father, and our children. This was a longer conversation than either of the earlier ones. The last thing I remember her saying was, “What’s your name?” This time it took me a little off guard. She had seemed so alert that I expected that it was one of those times she remembered it.

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Traveling to Memphis

Yesterday we left for what I expect to be our last Christmas visit to our daughter Jesse’s house in Memphis. As with our trip to Texas in November, I wasn’t sure that we would be able to make it. About two weeks ago, I felt sure enough to make our lodging  reservations. This will be only the second time we have not stayed with her and her family. At this stage of Kate’s illness, I felt it would be better to have the privacy afforded by staying in a hotel. She can sleep as late as she wants, and we won’t have to worry about any of the mess she makes in the bathroom.

Given how late she has been sleeping, I thought I would let her sleep until 11:30, grab a quick bite to eat, and hit the road between 1:00 and 1:30. As it turned out, she woke up about 10:30. That gave us time to have lunch at the Bluefish Grill, our regular Saturday lunch place.

On several occasions, we have stopped in Nashville to have lunch with friends or visit with our friend Ellen Seacrest. She’s our friend who had a stroke while visiting her daughter in Nashville three years ago this past August. We stopped for a nice visit with her. Earlier in the week, we had seen Louise, the woman who replaced her as choir director at her church in Knoxville. When I mentioned that we were going to see her, she asked if we could take something with us. Yesterday morning she brought a gift bag with a Christmas CD, an assortment of homemade cookies, and a card with greetings and signatures of Ellen’s choir members. That made this visit very special.

Ellen had directed the choir almost forty years and contributed in many other ways to the church. She was well-known and loved. The distance has kept all of her Knoxville friends from visiting her. To the best of my knowledge, we are the only ones who have visited her more than once. Thus, Ellen was quite moved to be remembered in this way. I asked Ellen if she would like to talk with Louise. She was excited when I mentioned it. I called, and Louise answered on the first ring. That began a 10-minute phone call that was certainly the highlight of Ellen’s day. I am so glad I told Louise we were making this visit. After Christmas, I think I will talk with Ellen’s daughter and see how she would feel if we brought one or two of her closest church friends with us on a future visit. That would be quite a thrill for Ellen.

I thought it would make the trip easier if we stayed overnight in Nashville and complete the trip to Memphis today. It would also enable Kate to sleep as late as she would like without getting us to Jesse’s too late in the day. That has worked out quite well though it is increasingly difficult to travel with Kate. There is so much for me to think about and manage. Lots of things come up that would be more easily taken care of at home. I don’t intend to stop all overnight travel. I could easily see staying overnight in Nashville on other trips to see Ellen, but I don’t think we will stay away from home longer than one night in the future. I am also uncertain about how long we might do that.

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Less Confusion Yesterday

I’ve been encouraged by the success we’ve had with the Monday sitter’s getting Kate up and dressed. I was prepared to try the same thing with our Wednesday and Friday sitter. That didn’t work on Wednesday because Kate was up so early. I thought yesterday might be the opportunity I was looking for, but I changed my mind (a couple of times).

I really like to have lunch with Kate before leaving, so I decided to play some soft music about 10:15. I thought that would help her wake up gently, and we could eat together before Mary arrived. At 11:15, she was still sleeping soundly. I changed my mind again. I decided it was better to let her sleep and have Mary take care of getting her up and to lunch. I walked back to the bedroom a few minutes before noon and discovered she was sitting up on the side of the bed. She wanted to shower. She was much more alert than the previous day and needed less help getting her shower though she welcomed help dressing. By the time she was ready to go it was almost 1:00. That’s the time Mary was to arrive.  I called her at 12:30 and asked that she meet us at the restaurant. That worked out well, but having the sitter with us for an hour meant I had only three hours on my own. I skipped the Y and spent about 45 minutes at Starbucks working on a book of my dad’s emails and autobiographical notes. Then I had coffee with Mark Harrington for another hour before going back home.

The good news was that meeting the sitter at the restaurant provided a smooth transition for me to let Mary take Kate back home. Kate was very receptive to that. I had set the TV for them to watch YouTube Christmas specials. They did that the whole time I was gone.

After dinner, I watched the evening news. Then I turned on a video of an old (1995) Julie Andrews concert. Kate enjoyed watching but could never remember who the singer was. I kept telling her, but she couldn’t remember, nor did she remember having seen her in person two other times. One of those times was in the summer of 2016. Last night she had no recollection at all of who Julie Andrews is.

She got up later to look for her night clothes but didn’t know where to go. I took her to the room where she keeps her clothes and got her a night gown. She wanted to use the bathroom while I returned to our bedroom. In a few minutes I heard her call, “Hey.” When I got to her, she was standing in the hallway and said, “I didn’t know where to go.” I walked ahead of her as she followed me to our bedroom. On the way, she said, “This is a nice place.” I said, “So you like it?” She said, “Yes, don’t you?” I said, “Yes, I do.”

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More Signs of Memory Loss and Confusion

For quite some time I have been reporting Kate’s difficulty remembering names and places as well as her confusion. That makes it a challenge for me to convey how she is different now than in the past. Perhaps the best way is for me to say that I don’t think she is on a plateau but gradually declining with respect to both her memory and confusion. There have been two occasions in the past few days that particularly struck me. One of those occurred yesterday morning.

Although it was not a day for the sitter, I wanted her to get up before noon so that she could get ready without my rushing her. I also wanted us to have a relaxed lunch before her 2:00 appointment for a massage. About 10:00, I put on some music to help wake her. It was 10:45 before I tried to get her up. She opened her eyes when I sat down on the bed. She smiled and waved to me with her hand. I asked about her getting up for lunch. She said she didn’t want to get out of bed that she was too comfortable and relaxed. I didn’t leave her bedside. We began a conversation that was one of those I take as a sign of a new stage of her decline. Let me try to capture some of flavor of our conversation.

KATE:            What’s your name?

RICHARD:    Richard.

KATE:             No, your full name.

RICHARD:    Richard Lee Creighton.

KATE:             Say it again.

RICHARD:    Richard Lee Creighton

KATE:             Let me say it. Richard. (unable to remember the rest) What’s your name again?

RICHARD:    Richard Lee Creighton.

KATE:            What’s my name?

RICHARD:    Kate Franklin Creighton

KATE:            That sounds right. What’s your name?

RICHARD:    Richard Lee Creighton.

KATE:            Say it again slowly.

RICHARD:   Richard Lee Creighton.

KATE:            What’s my mother’s name?

RICHARD:   Elizabeth Franklin. Does that sound familiar?

KATE:            No. Did you know her?

RICHARD:    Yes, and she was a very special lady.

KATE:            (Looking surprised) Is she gone?

RICHARD:   Yes, she died 13 years ago, but she lived a long life. She was 90 when she died.

KATE:            What’s your name?

RICHARD:   Richard Lee Creighton.

KATE:            What are you to me?

RICHARD:    I am your husband.

KATE:            (Surprised) You are? What was I thinking? (joking)

RICHARD:    Yes, and we have two children. Our daughter is 50.

KATE:            How old am I?

RICHARD:    You’re 77, but you will be 78 in less than a month.

We talked like this for 15-20 minutes before I said I would be glad to help her out of bed. She didn’t want to, but she let me get her up and take her to the bathroom. While she was showering, she asked my name, her name, and the nature of our relationship. As I noted before, she asked these things without any sign that she was disturbed. She just couldn’t remember them and wanted me to tell her.

We went to lunch at Panera. While we were there she asked some of these questions again as well as “Where are we?” By the time we finished eating, she quit asking all of the questions. I don’t know that is because she remembered or she was wrapped up in her puzzles. On the way home from her massage, she called me by name.

As in one other experience like this she tended to accept that I was her husband but my telling her did not bring back any memory of that. Neither did my name. Not only that but the duration of her confusion lasted longer than usual. More subjectively, it also seems that the way she looked and expressed herself seemed like it was much harder for her to make sense of everything.

We spent two hours at home before going to jazz night at Casa Bella. During that time she seemed quite normal. She didn’t ask any names. She did ask for help with her puzzles several times.

As always, she enjoyed the evening at Casa Bella. She was somewhat more talkative and confident. When we got there, we saw the couple that we went to Flat Rock with last week. We quickly got into two separate conversations. The husband and I talked while Kate talked with his wife. I wish I could have participated in both conversations because Kate was very animated and engaged. She continued to be talkative after we got to our regular table. It was a little noisier last night, and it was harder for her to understand what people were saying. As she has done in recent situations like this, she kept asking us to repeat what we were saying. I really feel for her at times like this. She was ready to participate, but she couldn’t follow what we were talking about.

On the way home, she asked where we were going. I told her we were going to our house. She was surprised and said, “How can we do that?” I told her we were already in Knoxville. That was another surprise for her. When I asked where she thought we were, she said she didn’t have any place in mind. She was pleased to be going home. In a few minutes, she asked where we were going to stay. Again, I told her we would stay in our own home.

When we drove down our driveway, she was puzzled. Then the garage door opened, she said, “Oh, I recognize this.” Once inside she followed me back to the bedroom. She started to close the door to the family room. I told her she could leave it open, that we were the only ones here. She said, “That’s a shame.” She was looking at our house as a hotel or some other form of lodging and not our home. She wished other people could be here to enjoy it. Apart from that confusion, she seemed very normal and showed no sign that she didn’t know me.

At 6:00 this morning she got up to go to the bathroom. I went around to her side of the bed to help her as I have been doing recently. I was surprised that she didn’t sound either groggy or confused. She didn’t want my help getting out of bed or walking her to the bathroom though I did walk with her. She said, “I really didn’t need you but thank you.”

After walking back to her side of the bed, she said, “I just want to look out here a minute.” She was looking at our back yard. She said, “It’s beautiful. They’ve thought about everything.” She still thought she was staying some other place than our home. Then she got in bed. The timing of her trip to the bathroom was just right this morning. It was about two hours later than yesterday. That suits me better. I had had a good night’s sleep.