Months since forgetting how to turn on microwave

Maru

About 5 months ago DH with Alz forgot how to turn on microwave…just stood there punching random buttons. I figured it was a sign he was progressing. Then a month or two later, he forgot that we had a garbage disposal and, in fact, didn't even know we had one. Another sign of progression, I thought. But since then, he has functioned very well…other than his new normal for forgetting things, events and some people and their relationship to him. My question is: were the microwave and garbage disposal incidents just one offs and meant nothing or not. I live with the constant worry that I am making too much out of each little thing…you know…making all this up and it is actually me with the problem. (yes, my insecurity is out there for everyone to see)

MariaN26

My DH did the same thing. He can’t operate the microwave, coffee maker or dish washer. However, occasionally he will remember how and then the skill is gone again. It is all part of the progression but sometimes doesn’t mean that they are heading to the next stage or anything like that. It is all just part of how it affects their brain. I too used to worry every time he would lose a skill but then I realize that they can come and go. I also noticed that as the skills come and go his over all ability to function has remained pretty steady.

sandwichone123

They tend to lose things kind of that way. Memories that are saved with emotion last longer, but things they learned later in life and didn't really have an emotional connection to will tend to be the first to go.

You're not making too much of things—progression can be slow but each item is a slap. Unexpectedly, they can then seem to progress more quickly for a time or even backtrack. All of these patterns make us, the caregivers, feel as if we're the ones losing it.

harshedbuzz

@Maru

I don't know that it's a sign of progression, it's a function of poor short-term memory. Memory is lost in a last-in-first-out pattern. Difficulty with tech is a fairly common late early-stage issue as it tends to be something that came into the PWD's more recently. Even if he'd used a microwave for 35 years, operating your current model would be very different than older ones. This is why simpler tech— like moving from a smartphone to a flip model— isn't often successful for PWD.

That said, a dear friend built a house so she and mom could live together. Mom was in middle stages at the time. DF tucked mom's $89 microwave on the counter of her fancy chef's kitchen and paid more money to convert her old gas dryer to electric than it would cost to replace it with new. Mom never used the microwave (although she swore she did) and swore the dryer was brand new and beyond her.

HB

SSHarkey

Definitely legitimate! You are fine! It’s a bizarre disease. Like Swiss cheese to the brain. My DH can figure out mathematical issues but sees a triangular piece of wood as a slice of pizza. Boggling.

Dan520

Thank you Maru for starting this topic.

You and everyone who commented have helped me!🙏

Maru

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/283547#Comment_283547

You know, I had completely forgot the "first in, last out" thing. Thank you, Harshedbuzz, for that reminder. I think that the first garbage disposal we had was in 1978, when he was 53. He probably never used a microwave until he retired in the 90's…definitely last in stuff. And, yes, Swiss cheese…sometimes works, sometimes not so much.

Snipe

DW cannot use the microwave, coffee maker, phone or garbage disposal. She tells me that she never knew that we had one when I use it or complains about the noise it makes. We’ve lived here for 35 years and have always had it. I sit here so sad sometimes just watching this terrible disease take over my wife. Today is one of those days.

stananon

I need to be so hyper-vigilant . DW mistakes trash for dishwasher, placing dishes and silverware there. Also leftovers sometimes put in a drawer rather than the refrigerator. She mostly has problems with her cell phone, even after i made it dementia friendly…she sometimes thinks the tv remote is the phone and wonders why the call doesn't go through.