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.

Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Huh?

Everything I say must be repeated.
EVERYTHING I SAY MUST BE REPEATED.

Lewy has taken Hubby into the world of garbled language. He doesn't always hear what I say. I don't know if it's my tone he can't hear or if his brain can not process the words correctly. The latter is actually my guess. This has been going on for some time but is increasingly worse.

I admit I am tired of constantly repeating myself to "Huh?".

Being more aware that Hubby had this hearing difficulty I try to speak up when I'm talking. I have even tried saying his name and getting his attention on me before I speak. I don't always remember to do that but I do try. I try and remember to speak slower, something that has always been a difficult thing for me as I grew up in the North and transplanted myself to the South. Some habits are difficult to completely break.
The main thing is I still try to converse with Hubby.

Conversation is becoming increasingly difficult though. For one I have never been much of a conversationalist. I steered away from politics as Hubby, who loved politics, had enough opinion for both of us and mine wasn't necessary. That's fine. News headlines don't make there way into the home by way of TV as I have found that Hubby gets more anxious when he watches the news. When state or world news became part of his own personal reality I took the easy way out of avoiding distress by avoiding the news or any other program that evokes thoughts of insecurity or danger.

Since we are basically home bound we don't get out and see people. So our social conversations are lacking. And those we do see on the rare occasion get as confused as Hubby when he tries to converse with them. They look at me and I just shrug, smile and divert the topic.

Mail or pamphlets that Hubby tries to read frustrate him. He was looking over a piece of mail we received and told me he couldn't read it. I asked him why and he said he couldn't see it or understand it.


We don't converse about TV programs either. As time went by Hubby's ability to keep up with a show plot diminished also. It's no wonder he can't keep up with a conversation. Even a short one.

I do get tickled at some of our conversations we try to have. I also get annoyed at having to repeat everything I say. Mostly I get tickled.

For instance,

Setting: End of a tiresome day. Hubby has been awake and needy all day and I have had to repeat myself to Hubby's "Huh?" the vast majority of the day.

We have had a few chilly nights lately. Hubby complains about being cold ALL the time so this cold snap has been a little extra chilly for him. As we were calling it a night I asked Hubby if he wanted another blanket on the bed for his feet.

Hubby said "Huh?" (Seriously, again?!grr)

Louder, I say "Do you want another blanket on the bed for your feet?"

Hubby gets a confused look on his face and says, "Do I want a bucket?"

I get a annoyed look on my face and glare at him. With agitation in my voice said "NO! Now why on earth would I put a bucket on the bed?"

Hubby's answer. "I don't know, you said it."

Dumbfounded I just stared at him and fell out laughing.

And thus is how many of our conversations go :)

So much better than comedy TV!