Mellow Dementia / Alzheimer's Days

Mellow Dementia / Alzheimer’s Days

I’m glad to report that Mr. Q was in fine shape both Thursday and Friday. There were no major mishaps and little stress and strain. He didn’t try to climb the fence and as a person with dementia and Alzheimer’s was as good as could be expected.

There were still the bouts with getting him to stay at the table while eating and the issues of him going to bed or taking a nap, but nothing to write home about. He still only ate a minuscule portion of his dinner, but was a little better at lunch. To compensate for the lack of food he had some Ensure to help him get some of the vitamins and minerals he needs.

Today was a first for me to see him wet his pants twice in one day. In fact I only know of him even wetting his pants just one time, although maybe it happened more than once. Today I just happened to glance at him as he was sitting on the sofa watching the tv and noticed his pants seemed discolored. I checked and they were wet. Now that was a total surprise since he had gone to the bathroom only a few minutes before.

Going to the bathroom, however, doesn’t guarantee anything since he in in the bathroom so many times everyday and usually goes there every time he has to spit – and that is a lot of times. We haven’t been able to get him to spit in a tissue and dispose of it in the garbage can or to refrain from spitting so much. I changed him and cleaned him up and thought that was it.

Sometime later after his nap he was sitting on the couch again after just coming out the bathroom and actually doing his #1 business I noticed he was pulling up both pants legs. That was the first time I had seen him do that so I went over to investigate. Well I noticed his pants legs were wet on one leg. It had been no more than three or four minutes before that he had done that in the bathroom and now again in his pants.

I changed him again. Mr Q was pretty mellow and did not cause too big a commotion about changing clothes. The most he did was grab his wet clothes so tight I could hardly get them from him. Obviously he was thinking something entirely different from me for wanting to keep his wet clothes. I tried to reason with him, but it was a session with no positive results. It is not too easy to reason with a person with dementia. Usually their reasoning is somewhat flawed, and sometimes totally flawed.

Later when I had got Mr. Q to sit down in an armchair I again tried to get him to see he should not want to wear wet clothes. He agreed virtually time I tried to give him examples of why he should not want to keep me from washing his dirty wet clothes he had peed in. I was hoping I could actually take the wet clothes I had in my hand back to the laundry room without him getting up to grab them from me. Several false attempts and I could not get more that a couple of feet away before he started to get up to grab them from me.

I took one more shot at it, saying “can I go put these wet clothes in the washing machine while you stay there” and he did not answer. I instinctively felt he would not let me leave without some adverse action on his part, but I could see a half hour of trying to convince him was doing no good. So I decided to force the issue and said “Mr. Q I am going to take these wet clothes back to the washing machine and I hope you stay there until I come back”. I walked away fast and took them. Expecting him to run and try to catch me and grab them I was shocked that he remained seated and paid no attention to me. I took my time coming back too. That was the first time I think he ever sat still while anyone had some clothes of his that he wanted. Mr. Q was in a mellow mood and still aware of what was happening. He was somewhat sleepy, but was not trying to fall asleep like he usually does.

That was the only little bit of action I can remember except for getting up from the bed and not taking a nap even after he had asked so many times about the time (that meant was it time to take a nap). He finally snuck in to take a nap almost when it was time for his nap to be over. Then later that night (Friday) he got up several times right after he went to bed for the night. I convinced him it was bedtime and he quietly got back in bed without putting up any resistance.

Mr. Q did not wander so much the last two days. That was a real relief. I hope it’s a good sign of things to come. However I certainly wouldn’t put any money on it.

Well he has been in bed five and a half hours and I am going to bed. He has not gotten up since. It was a good mellow day for Mr. Q the last two days.

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