He's finally gone and done it

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I knew this day would come, I just didn't think it would be this soon. My husband stood up in front of the dining room window - which fronts on the street - and took off his nightshirt, leaving him totally naked. The drapes were open, of course.

The past week he has lost our house key (still lost), our garage door opener (found), melted a plastic bag onto a burner, gone off for the day (approved trip) without having his cell phone on him, and gone off for the day (approved trip) leaving the garage door wide open.

He's on a new med for his early stage Alzheimers, and I think I need to report all this back to the doc. It's just another "moving goalposts" experience for me. Hopefully I can drive again in about 3 weeks, and if I can't, I might anyway.

Wow. I’m sorry you’re having such a difficult time. Hopefully, the doctors can adjust his medication to make things better.

Alzheimer’s is so difficult for the patient, family, and friends.

Oh, Bea ...

I can’t even begin to imagine what that is like.

Sorry to hear that. It is certainly hard when things change every week or two.

Thanks for your support, everyone.

He just came back from a trip to the pharmacy to pick up his meds, he asked for MY meds and was told there weren't any (and forgot to ask for HIS meds), and lost my Visa card. This is an improvement over the old days, when he would lose his wallet (three times over) with a dozen or more cards to be cancelled. I've already phoned the credit card company and requested a replacement account. It's not a big deal. But it just adds to the list of mixups.

Being a compassionate person, I've reassured him and even interjected a little humor in the situation. But it's good that he felt bad about it - for a little while - because when I have to restrict his "privileges" (though we don't use that word), I can remind him how bad something like this is and what it felt like. To the extent possible, I'm letting real world consequences determine how short his leash is. At some point, I guess I'll have to be more proactive.

I nearly cried reading this. I truly hope the new medications help.

How old is your husband, Bea?

Oh dear.

He's 77.

I'm thinking I might put up some semi-sheer panels in addition to the insulating drapes. You generally can't see through those very well, which could be all we need. They would still let a lot of light in, which I like.

That sounds like a good pragmatic compromise.

.... AND today he was dressing in the spare bedroom where he keeps most of his clothes, the drapes were open, and he was standing there in his underpants. I told him to close the drapes, which he did.

I'm sure you've thought about this. And you might even have one.

I'm thinking of a GPS bracelet or whatever.

Not a bad idea, and I have looked into it a bit, but currently we don't have TOO much trouble with him wandering. He did go off on walks by himself, lost track of time, and had the police called, twice, in the past year or two. So now I tell him if he doesn't return when I expect him, police will be involved "and that's embarrassing for everybody."

I intend to not let him much out of my sight in future, but while I am immobilized with this damn broken ankle, my decision was it is better for him to go to exercise class, where he gets some cardiovascular and pain benefit and can socialize. He takes the mobility scooter, and so far has not gotten lost.

This sort of compromise makes the issue of my injury a lot more complicated than it would otherwise be. We've asked family for help, and his son that lives locally was a real jack-ass about it so I think we won't be asking HIM again. They have a strained relationship anyway and I now do not consider him a person to participate in dementia care but simply to inform, for instance if my husband needs to go into memory care.

ugrghhw ptui.