Hi @chris20
I'm glad you found the article helpful!
My husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's 5 years ago, although I noticed signs two years prior to that. He doesn't shadow me and I can leave him for a few hours at a time. He still does dishes, sweeps outside, puts his clothes away. I can get him to work on a puzzle once in a while or keep score when I play Scrabble solitaire.
For a while, he was not accepting of visitors. I didn't realize he had a cataract and was blind in one eye. He had surgery and is much more sociable. Still, our home is his castle, where he feels safe, and after a while visitors are "invaders" to him.
The geriatrician told me to tell him, if I do get help from outside, that the help is for me, not him. Do you think that would work with your wife? (I just saw that @IndianaScott made a similar suggestion below).
If you need to rest, read or watch tv, will your wife sit beside you quietly? Maybe you could sneak in some rests or "me" time that way?
If you have to do a chore, can you give her a little job she can do beside you?
How do you manage groceries, etc.?
I've been toying with the idea of getting a companion dog for us. I was feeding a neighborhood stray for years. He started to accompany me on walks to feed her and he just loved her. Long story short, she was taken by Animal Control on Valentine's Day. She was too much dog, indepependent, with trust issues, for me to take on, but he's lost so much motivation since she's gone.
Meanwhile, my husband's had chronic sinusitis and one sinus is completely blocked so he'll need some kind of procedure. I'm going to delay moving forward on the dog for a while.
We're pretty much on our own here, with no family nearby. It must hurt when they are near and don't step up.
Do take care and post how it goes.