Things have progressed

Bob in LW · August 4

I haven't posted here in quite a while, but things with my Significant other/life partner have progressed recently. At first, her only problem was short term memory loss which was easy for me to deal with. A few months ago, she started sleeping all day, often 16-18 hours a day. She also was getting no exercise and was eating much less than usual. She gets confused, especially when she gets up at night to use the bathroom. One of her doctors recently told me that these things are all normal as Alzheimer's progresses and are irreversible. At this stage, he said, we should let her do whatever makes her comfortable. Sometimes at night she walks out into the hallway because she is confused, and I have to have her come back to bed. To make sure that I wake up when she does this, I've installed sensors on the bedroom doors which ring a chime when one is opened. There are still some positive things going on as well. We recently went on a car trip where we drove 200 miles a day. Instead of sleeping, my SO was alert and enjoyed commenting on things she observed as we drove. She is 89 and I'm 90, and last week her Neurologist commented that she hopes to be as active as we are when she reaches our ages. We are planning to hire a part time caregiver so that if I should be hospitalized, for instance, we will have someone who knows what my SO's needs are.