“What are you doing here”?

David J

That’s how my wife greeted me today at the MCF. The first full coherent sentence in months!  I answered that  I was there to visit her, and she took my hand and we walked round and round and up wings and out doors and back in for an hour and a half. This is her daily activity, several hours per day. The staff has been having difficulties getting her to stop and rest. Several times she has walked herself to exhaustion, dangerously close to collapse. I finally got her to go back to her room and take a nap with me. That is something the staff can’t do, but I can. We had a nice nap, and she was calm and affectionate.  By that, I mean that she recognized our relationship and was comfortable lying there next to me. Nothing happened requiring a TMI warning, just being comfortable together. It was a connection we haven’t enjoyed for a long time. After an hour, while she was still drowsy, I left. 

Visits are hard, but moments like that make it easier. I know that I was too stressed with caring for her at home, and now we can be together without any caregiving responsibilities hanging over me. 

Dave

M1

Dave that all sounds pretty good, all things considered.  Glad she's made the transition fairly easily.

Quilting brings calm

I’m glad she’s doing ok.  Sounds like you are too. 

Hang in there on the walking.  My MIL did not have dementia( not in the traditional sense) , but  she had  a fixation on walking preventing cancer.  So she would push her walker all over her assisted living center for hours every day.  That slowed down as she got over the age of 85.