I woke up to a beautiful, blustery, sunny day. After being sick for the entire week, it was great to hear the birds singing outside of my bedroom window and to see the sun shining brightly. I did a mental check of how I was feeling:
No fever…. Check.
No headache…. Check.
No stomach ache…. Check!
No lower back ache…. Well, maybe a little, but nothing a little ibuprofen won’t relieve. So, surmising that I am feeling much better, I get up to start my usual routine.
So thankful for Angelo, who stepped right up and made sure that both Mom and I were well cared
for.
After breakfast and making certain that everyone’s needs
were cared for, I decided to run my usual Wednesday errands. I noticed that
I didn’t have my usual pep in my step. In between running into different stores,
I had to sit in the car to regain my energy. By my third stop, I realized that my
stamina was depleted and that I needed to narrow down my errands to just one
more venture and head back home.
While driving home, at a red light, I began to make a mental
note of what I had on my schedule for the next day when suddenly I realized
that this day was in fact Thursday, not Wednesday… OH NO! I totally missed an important
appointment that I needed to attend on Thursday… today.
Now, as a caregiver of a parent with dementia, I
often question: is this the beginning for me? Honestly, I’m not being
paranoid. You see, my father also lived with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as
his mother and two of his sisters. So, cognitive disorder is not uncommon in my
bloodline. Therefore, the concern is real!
Tell me, do you too question if you’re losing your memory
or have the potential of having Alzheimer’s disease when you can’t remember
something that you know you know? Or when you can’t find those keys, or your
phone, or that shirt that should be in that certain place?
After giving it much deliberation, I realized that my week
was thrown off because of being ill and sleeping most of the days earlier in
the week to recover. So, once again I gave myself some grace and drove myself home and lay myself down in bed for a nice cozy nap.
Good news! For the rest of the week I didn’t have to ask, “What day is this?”
Keywords: weather humor, losing one's mind. accepting reality, frustration and resentment, forgetting, senile senility, aging humor, care for an older family member, dealing with memory loss, stories about dealing with dementia
Hashtags:#aginghumor, #caringforanolderfamilymember, #dealingwithmemoryloss, #storiesaboutdealingwithdementia
