That slippage Dementia thing....

I'm learning a lot these days about the word Dementia.

Well you know I call it 'Slippage', it is a kinder word. I wish the doctors would just call it something nicer like what it is.

Brain Disease. Perhaps instead of Dementia or Alzhiemers, or Vascular Dementia, Lewey Bodies...it could be called simply Brain Malfunction. Okay not that think of how the doctors like to use initials. BM sure wouldn't work well for Brain Malfunction.

Some days the neurons and memory pathways work perfectly for my MIL. She has very bright days which are less than her dim days. Those days she tells me of things that make no real sense to me, but make perfect sense to her.
She tells me that they moved her room again. I ask if it is 210 and she says yes of course it is. But they move it often, her name and number stay the same but sometimes they put it in different places.

I think about it later and this is a perfect explanation. It makes sense. If she is having trouble finding her way back to her room, it must have been moved. In her mind that is the only logical reason.
I'm beginning to understand how her mind will grasp something and she makes sense out of it with this type of reasoning. I applaud her line of thinking, it is imaginative.
It shows that she still is thinking and that is a good thing.

So the next time she told me that, instead of correcting her we went on an adventure to go find her room. We were both pleased as punch to find it and I congratulate her on being so clever.

"Not clever," she laughs. I leave her for the afternoon and go back home. In a way it feels hard to leave her sitting in her room like that. But now I know she will get her 'lift' chair from her apartment in her room. This should make her daytime naps easier and more comfortable than sitting in her wheelchair nodding off.


Dementia tests. There are a variety of them and though I understand the need for them to mark a baseline and watch the 'progression' of the slippage, I disagree with people visiting and trying to tell MIL to remember this or that. Endless questions instead of casual conversations.
Leave the prognosis to the doctors, but be there with your parent or spouse.

Yesterday Rich had a physical.
The nurse gave him a short 'dementia' memory test. A SLUMS test. He actually did very well and if the nurse took into account that he has aphasia, she would have scored it higher. I noted that to her... but... oh well.

His COPD is a bit worse, but I knew that because he has been avoiding going to Pulmonary Therapy. He figures that his summer work is done and he doesn't need to do more? Not sure.
Each time we get ready to go to Fresh Start he finds a reason he can't go.
"My tummy hurts"
"I'm too tired"
"I feel dizzy"

His room 02 sats are falling so I tried to show him that IF he doesn't work at it, he will get connected to the dreaded cord all the time again.
This resistance is understandable and frustrating at the same time.

I have been engaging him in opinions. "Show me how to put this cordless drill together!" He does. "If I build the stall and put some plywood in the spots where Fred would put his head through the rails would that help?"
We discuss zip ties and plywood.
A short but satisfying talk in which he tells me that I had a good idea.

He still there but fades most of the day into watching the trees and the mules out in the pasture or a TV show.
No longer is the boss guy around. The guy who would shudder to know his wife can drive his skid steer and drill a hole in plywood...or even rebuild a stall.

His is not so much 'slippage'. His memory is spotty about things from a year ago. But his issue is apathy. Stroke related apathy.
He listens to the doctors and nods, he listens to me and agrees to 'try' to do more.

And then.
He returns to watching out the window or getting tired. Self motivation seems to have disappeared completely.

Winter is coming and I feel like it could be a long one.

Hope Glimmers

Sometimes things look slightly better with a glimmer of hope.

You know dreary days can be SO darned dreary! We've had endless bouts of gloomy and rainy cold days mixed with wonderful warm days. Those days involve me trying to mow the areas I can without floating the lawn mower.

So that leaves out the hills as the ground under the grass is so saturated I'd leave brown tracks. Hmmm. I may have to wait on the lane for the land to dry out. By that time the grass should be at least knee high.
But wait!

I know Sven can't keep up with it, and Lil' Richard is doing his best around the old tractor and vehicles...
So I may wait until the lane is nice and dry and let the mules in to clean it up all at once. Then I just need to spread the manure they leave behind.

Problem solved!
I may have to do that to the hill in front of the shed too. That will be a bit more difficult to organize, but since I am so good at temporary fencing, I just may do it.

May is proving to be interesting. I've really had good luck on the warm afternoons hunting morel mushrooms. I will probably go out this afternoon with my electric fence roll and string one line and then since I will be at the creek...I will do a quick hunt before walking back up to the house.

I know where there were some very tiny morels on Saturday, so I'd like to go back and see if they grew.
So far I've had plenty to eat and I've dried a lot for soups and stews this winter.

Rich's depression has lifted quite a bit with the help of Dr. S.
Wow.
We saw Dr. S yesterday and he said the difference was night and day. The Gnarly Witty and sometimes bizarre husband of mine was bantering with his psych doctor.
Rich's Pulmonary Function Test was no surprise.
Severe COPD.
Now we didn't get the official numbers but as Jim the Pulmonary Therapist who evaluated him last week said, some Pulmonary Therapy and better Oxygen delivery would make him physically feel better.

Community Care from the VA just called to make arrangements locally for PT for Rich. We know that Rich will never get rid of his oxygen tether and that for traveling he will need a constant flow rather than the pulse flow he has now. At home he is on a constant flow.
The 02 metering may have to go up too, but...they want to see if PT helps first.

The biggest hurdle will be getting some strength back.

But never mind that. The thought of Pulmonary Therapy gave Rich a glimmer of hope and a small sparkle in his eye. I knew it.
I knew that without lifting some depression that nothing would make him see hope.
We all know the end game of life. But if there is a small chance of still enjoying moments...it is worth the trip.