The Same Old Dementia Problems Remain
Transcribed by Honey B Wackx
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July 12, 2008
I just returned home from a couple of weeks out of the country. I went on an African safari. During that time I heard from someone who called home that that Mr. Q had been well behaved since I was gone. I was glad to hear that. That was the first week.
When I returned home I heard a different story from the other caretaker, the one who generally takes care of Mr. Q during the day. He told me almost the opposite about Mr. Q, especially during the second week I was gone. Mr. Q just wouldn’t sit still and required watching like a hawk. This was especially the case after dinner and before bedtime. It was a welcome relief when Mr. Q fell asleep for a few minutes and one could get a rest from watching him. With the State restricting us from preventing him leaving the property it is doubly hard to have any break in watching him. If we take our eyes off of him he could easily leave the yard since he moves around so very much. This is a very bad situation requiring tons of additional work in monitoring him.
Apparently Mr. Q has more problems going to the bathroom than two weeks ago. He has wet on the bathroom floor several times, among other things. He appears to be getting worse. Possibly his medicine is causing problems so we will have the doctor prescribe some different medicine. It is hard to tell if his dementia is actually getting worse or the medicines are causing his problems. He is still ignoring virtually everything that is asked of him, like sit down and eat, get in bed, get out of the bed, don’t spit on the bricks, sit down and watch TV, etc.
I spent a few minutes talking with him. He was the usual silent man and only said a brief word when I prodded him to answer my question. He seemed to forget the name of one of his brother’s children. He couldn’t remember what kind of French car he had when he lived with us. Both these questions he answered correctly with a single word each, when I gave him a hint or outright gave him the answer. For the most part of it he seemed rather “out of it” while I was talking with him. He did recognize me however.
This morning July 13, 2008 I asked him if he could talk when he was not responding to anything I said to him. He finally answered that he “could not talk”. During the week when the caretaker asked him some questions he responded “talk is cheap”.
