And the Packing Up Continues...

Loved your comment “like shoveling feathers in the wind”. Never heard that before but it sure describes many things we go through as caregivers.

At a caregivers meeting many years ago we were advised to always carry our keys with us in case we needed to escape. I have done that ever since and don’t buy any slacks without pockets. We also have a key lockbox outside our door for storing an extra key. The box is code activated. They cost about $35.

Denise, my husband with Alzheimer's does this too, although not so much at night. When he first started, I would try to put them back right away into his labeled drawers. Then I packed away all but 5 or 6 of each item of clothing so it is not so much to put back and organize. Now at bedtime I just scoop all the stuff off the bed and onto a bench and we just rummage through the pile to find things to wear. Sometimes he puts things away himself, but never in the "right" drawers. My point is that I went from trying to fix things right away to realizing that in the big picture it really doesn't matter where his clothes are kept. Last time though he included some of my clothes and that's an entirely different story—grrrr!

My DH has done this for about a year and a half now and is well into stage 6 now and we just started hospice 2 weeks ago. He liked to pack his clothes and basically any items he has into our car. He always thinks we are going “home”. Home to him is his childhood home. Just the last couple of weeks it is starting to lessen. He is sleeping better at night and only “packs” about an hour mid to late afternoon. I too just had to let him do this and no, things are not organized like I would like them to be but in the big picture doesn’t really matter. The night time was a little different as he didn’t really pack at night but would get up each night and dressed, sometimes putting on as many as eight shirts. He would be up for an hour or two and then lay back down. That was hard and I tried different medication and different amounts but nothing helped completely. I feel the change is due to progression.