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Approach to bringing in a caregiver for wife

Caregivers: Dementia | Last Active: Mar 4 6:42am | Replies (32)

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@jillsy

I'm in the same boat as you and @bclane. Hubby seems to remember everything about his childhood, which he talks about incessantly, but can't remember whether he just ate. He has trouble implementing anything involving planning, so appointments, bookkeeping, etc are all left up to me. I am 'directionally impaired' (get lost easily - thank goodness for Google Maps), and he used to have an uncanny sense of direction, but that is gone and he would get lost a mile from here. He used to be very handy, but now simple 'Honey-do' jobs go undone. I think his hearing is normal, but he 'misunderstands' what I've said, so sometimes he gets mad at me thinking I said something different. I too find myself raising my voice impatiently when he asks me to repeat what I just said. He wants to use his smart phone but it is frustrating trying to show him over and over how to operate it. I too read constantly - only using audiobooks, so I can 'read' even when walking or doing chores. They truly do take one's mind off the tedium of daily life.
We're not planning very well for the future - I guess we'll just have to handle what comes when it comes. Fortunately I have a wonderful son who will help us, even though he lives far away.

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Replies to "I'm in the same boat as you and @bclane. Hubby seems to remember everything about his..."

I'm fortunate that my two children live nearby and I have two grandsons. Their lives are lots more interesting than mine. Ha. My husband refuses to have a cell phone of any kind. I wanted to give him a flip phone for emergencies but he won't even have that. He's begun using the wrong word for things, like "yellow" for "red." Then he insists he said the right thing. I feel so sorry about all this. He's always been so proud of his academic accomplishments and his intelligence. Now he can't spell "bananas" and can barely read words of more than two syllables.
He's changed a lot in the past year. I wonder what the next will bring. I try to plan for the future--wills, PoA, living wills, etc.--but I don't want to move into assisted living. The very thought makes me want to give up here and now. So I intend to cope at home for as long as I possibly can, though I know that's going to be rough. My son-in-law's 72 yr. old mother died a couple of years ago of Alzheimer's and the end was pretty awful. She stayed at home until the end though. Maybe Hospice at the very end. I hear good things about Hospice.