Disclaimer

This is dementia. It's not just a memory problem.
What you read in this blog is purely my own personal experience in dealing with Lewy Body Dementia every day.

This is not meant to offer any medical or legal advise.
I have no professional training in care giving or experiences in formal writing.
I'm just a woman that loves her husband deeply and wants to provide him with the best quality of life he can and chooses to have.
My prayer though this is "Lord, What am I learning from this; how can I use it help someone else and to glorify You?"
If just one person finds comfort in this public blog. I will feel like it was a success.

Friday, January 8, 2010

A day in Lewy Life

I have really enjoyed the reasons to smile list and I know some are trying to make their own.
BUT I have really struggled some days to find the smiles. I know that what is posted makes things sound so easy. Honestly finding something amongst the struggles we are faced with every day can be a tad overwhelming and there are times I just don't want to look for anything good. So I decided to share a recent day and then what I chose to concentrate on.

Hubby sleeps most of the time. He is usually up towards the late afternoon and as the night wears on he becomes more confused about things. The last few days he has been very busy going through everything. I kid you not about everything, looking in and pulling things out of every drawer and cabinet. I have asked him numerous times what he was looking for and he just says he is looking. I think he is looking for anything he may recognize as his or have some memory of. Of course what he takes out NEVER gets put back by him. It gets frustrating seeing him sit in the middle of the floor pulling out all the clothes from the drawers and rifling through papers knowing I am the one to pick them up.

On one night in particular he ran across the car title to his green car. Last year I renewed the tag although he hasn't driven in almost 2 yrs now. It expires in May and he came to me with title in hand and asked about the license. I explained the tags were still good he left the room. He returned again about the tags. Once again I explained. He did this over and over and over and the final time he came and handed me the title and said in a huffy tone, Well this says 1994. At which point I threw my "Good Wife" crown, banged and re bent my scepter and wanted to choke someone with the frayed sash and said in a gruffly annoyed tone, THAT'S THE YEAR THE CAR WAS MADE!! He looked at me suspiciously and left the room.

Deciding that there was nothing to smile about for this day I retreated to play Zelda and save the monkeys. On the way I let the baby kittens in the house. Seeing the kittens he then shuffled into the kitchen and watched them play for a little while then went to the dining room and started going through the books and pottery and dishes (I could hear) then I heard a THUD!! I rushed to the room to find him lying on his back as he had taken a tumble in the floor. As the norm for falling I survey for visible damage and make sure all limbs are movable. Then I wait for him to decide when he can get up. I have learned not to try and physically help as he can not understand the process and the result would be both of us getting injured.

As he lay there one of the baby kittens rounded the corner and walked over to him and stared at him. He in turn looked at the kitten and said, "It's a good thing you weren't under me". I started laughing and he smiled. He finally got up and I re checked for damage then we went to bed. That was close to 11 PM.

My status for that was: WHEW Barely got this in. Jan 4: Hubby enjoys watching the baby kittens play. I let them come inside so he can see and interact with them. I enjoy seeing his gentle nature with them. :-)

So perhaps the reason for sharing this was to show you that no matter what situation you may find yourself burdened or overwhelmed by keep looking, seeking. The positive is always somewhere. It wont always be funny, it may just be knowing a friend said they were praying for you or a stranger did something considerate.

This is my resolution for the year. "Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

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