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 sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Week of sleep 2/1 - 2/7


Got a little overanxious on posting good things in last weeks smiles I added Feb 1 in there. 

Feb 2:What a wonderful, fun and blessed day!! 

It has snowed here and we had been snowed in.  A layer of freezing rain, then sleet then snow and more sleet and snow. Arkansas doesn't adjust well to weather like that. (Give us a big ole tornado any day as opposed to ice and snow.) 

With enough of the snow melted we were able to keep Hubby's Dr. appointment. I had scraped and shoveled for 2 days trying to dig out. Thank the Good Lord for his sunshine and warmer temps. I warmed up the car for a good 30 mins before we left. 

Hubby was cautious about getting in. One due to the still slick driveway. Two because the ice on the car roof had slid just enough toward the passenger side of the car it looked as if it would fall on Hubby's head at any moment. (I tested it with a hard shove before Hubby ever came outside. No movement)

As we drove away I thought for sure that the ice would at the least just slide off the car hood but it didn't budge. 6 miles at 55 mph to the interstate and it was still hanging on.  As we rounded the on ramp and accelerated Hubby and I agreed it would probably fall off. Nope still on. We heard the roof snow move and I looked up into the rear view mirror to see it fly off and crash into the road behind us.  Finally about 5 miles down the road at 70 mph we watched chunks of snow hover and fly off the car hood. It was like watching a scene out of the matrix movies. Hubby and I both gasped when the hovering object shot straight up and flew over the roof then we laughed out loud. 

 After Hubby's Dr appointment we shared Prayer, lunch and laughs with some fabulous friends we love so very much. Hubby had a wonderful visit and was a little more involved than times. He has hopes of doing some fishing with his friend as I do for him. We are also rolling the idea around in trying to take a mini vacation together. That would be so nice :) 

Before we left we ran into an old friend we hadn't seen in such a long time. Sadly Hubby didn't remember her.

By the time we got into the car to get home I could tell Hubby was getting pretty tired. He slowed down in walking and talking and just wanted to go home. So home we went.  It was a great day! :) ♥

Feb 3: Sleep day

Lewy communication can be a big problem and it sure can leave me scratching my head. .

Feb 4 After opening a bottle of water for Hubby, he asked me if my father still worked at the place where they bottle that water (Daddy overfilled Arizona Tea bottles) I said "No, He retired" Hubby said "He's going to college?" I repeated myself and Hubby just looked at me. All I could do was scratch my head LOL!

Feb 5: Another very quiet day. Hubby slept most of the day and just wandered around the house the rest of the time. When I went to bed and watched TV he snuggled as close as he could and just lay there happy and content. Me too :)

Feb 6: sleep seems to be the only thing going on in our lives lately.

Feb7: Another sleep day for Hubby. We have the pleasure of hosting our Church Youth Group once a month with Food, Bible Study and fellowship. I SO look forward to it. Hubby doesn't make much if any effort to associate so he stays in his room. A couple of times he has made an appearance but retreated to his room. 

As he sleeps I Fondly remembered how we used to be so involved in our church activities and Youth groups. I recalled the time we drove the church van. We picked up so many children I started a roll and checked everyone on and off. Every child we picked up was accounted for. One day all children were present and accounted for, we drove away to take them to their respective homes . We drove about 1 block from the Church when  I looked at Hubby and asked "Where are OUR children? We found all 3 of them them waiting for us on the Church steps ROFLOL!!!! 

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

To sleep or not to sleep, that is the question

Hubby has always been a restless sleeper. He has had restless legs for many, many years so it has always been difficult for him to remain still and sleep. That on top of his PTSD. I on the other hand, think insomnia sets in if I am awake longer than 5 mins from the time I lay down. He has always disliked that about me. ;-)

But lately Hubby sleeps most of the time.

Before Hubby's Lewy Body Diagnosis a full night sleep was rare. Up numerous times during the night then an early morning workaholic. Poor guy had NO idea what the word vacation was until he met me. So he was the GO GO GUY. Always wheeling and dealing. A head for business but not management so his brain was always churning out some thought or idea no matter what part of the day or night it was.

He has always slept 'fitfully'. Tossing and turning and thrashing.

Then time and space started having no meaning to him. He started sleeping in and sleeping longer and napping more during the day. He would get up in the night and just wander around the house.  Just wandering around. never doing anything but walking. Oh and eating. He would ALWAYS raid the refrigerator.

He would get his days confused and after a nap, wake and believe it was another day. He would talk about something that happened weeks ago and think it had just happened or talk about something that happened 5 mins ago and talk as though it was last week.

A good example is few short months after diagnosis we were watching a TV show. A couple hours later the news came on and they made reference to the show we watched. Hubby asked me “Wasn’t that the one we saw last night?” I replied that we had just watched it. He was pretty confused about it.

Daytime sleep became more and more prevalent. Sleeping in, sleeping later, sleeping late and now sleeping almost all the time.

As of today, 2 yrs into Hubby's diagnosis, on most days Hubby sleeps until supper time. There have been a few times I have prepared his supper, taken it to him, he has eaten and gone right back to sleep. Night time wandering has subsided some.

His neurologist has said that was ok if he felt like he needed to sleep. So sleep he does. I just wish he could rest. But that's a whole other blog.

When I finally go to bed I watch the television and stroke his hair while he sleeps. It soothes him and me.