Now he can draw the face of a clock.

nancyj194

My husband retired from his job as an Engineer, in 1999 at the age of 60, because he could no longer do computer drafting. He also started getting lost in places he had driven his entire life. When he finally received a diagnosis in 2017, I finally had validation on knowing what I knew, when no one else believed me.

Before the 2017 diagnosis, I had downloaded the Sage test and he and I both took them. He was never able to draw the face of a clock nor draw the hands to tell time. When he received his diagnosis at University Health Science from the Neurology Specialist Physician, he could not draw the clock.

Yesterday, he had his yearly appointment with our fairly new primary care doctor of about four years. I had shared with him during our first visits about my husband's diagnosis.

When the assistant came in, he took vitals and then wanted to do a mini cognitive test.

The first thing he did was give him three words and asked him to repeat them back. DH did that. Then he asked him to draw the face of a clock and draw the time for 10 after 10.

At first DH sat there and was reading some little words below the blank space. The assistant told him to pay no attention to that and draw the face of a clock. DH sat there for maybe 5-10 seconds and finally put the number 12 on top. of the picture of a circle given him. Then he drew a 1, 2, and 3 and all of the numbers perfectly around the circle. I was shocked. He did put the little hand on ten and the big hand on the 11, so didn't quite get right, but close.

After he finished doing that, the assistant asked him to repeat the three words he had given him earlier. He named oranges, but could not remember the other two. I sat there with a blank mind and could not remember any. LOL

Today, he is more confused than normal, but I am still shocked at what happened yesterday.

Over the years, when he goes to see the doctors, he mostly puts on this fairly normal demeanor.

Yesterday he did his usual constant mumbling or repeating last word that was said, except when the doctor came in, and he became quiet except for answering the doctor's questions..some were right and some were wrong, but the doctor did look at me for confirmation.

Was yesterday with the clock an amazing fluke? Has anyone else experienced this with their LO this far along in the dementia/Alzheimer's journey?

I'm not seeing any other reversals in cognition, just the continued slow progression.

Thanks so much.

Nancy

Pat6177

Nancy,

That is pretty amazing! My DH has good and bad days but nothing that dramatic. I wonder if you asked him to draw the clock for you, how he would do? My guess is that it is a fluke but time will tell.

Joe C.

Nancy, Every once in a while DW will do something that surprises me. Last week I posted about her articulating a complete coherent sentence in response to a question even though she has not been speaking more than a single word or word salad for over a year. I not a neurologist but I just assume the brain occasionally finds some path to get the neurons to fire correctly but it is a fleeting moment.

mrl

Nancy,

That is fabulous for you, the feeling is so good. I very much remember the clock drawing and always going further and further downhill. My Tom's last one looked like a chocolate chip cookie😥 Fluke or not it's exciting to see. Crazy huh?

Michele

nancyj194

Thanks everyone for your comments. It helped to better understand what happened.

Pat, I have not yet asked him to draw a clock face for me, but in the next week or so, I will.

Joe, a complete and coherent sentence would be amazing when it happens. My DH cannot do that, either.

Your logic about finding the correct neuron paths makes sense.

Michele sorry to hear the last clock face looked like a chocolate chip cookie. That's how my DH's sometimes looked or some of the numbers were in a little cluster at the bottom of the face.

We all must try to stay strong.

Nancy