This discussion is blowing my mind! I think we’re all married to the same man! My husband talks endlessly, tells the same stories over and over and over. If we’re with some other people he will hijack the conversation, so embarrassing when they don’t ‘know’ why. When I’m attempting to converse with him, I can tell he isn’t listening, has what he wants to say next stuck in his mind, interrupts, and when I call him out says that I stopped talking—I paused for a split second or it was just the cadence of what I was telling him!!
He also narrates the tv, guesses what will happen next or asks me what’s going to happen, I haven’t seen it before…. He turns off the sound instead of pausing the tv to talk. He used to be in charge of large construction projects, so we have to pause the tv, or even back it up during shows so he can show me one that I already know he worked on, or he ate dinner in a restaurant on tv or he walked on a sidewalk, ugh! Sometimes I suggest that we watch something else because we have paused so many times I can’t stay invested in the storyline.
He also announces what he’s going to do every minute and says things out loud that the rest of us think to ourselves, like yours @judimahoney.
He used to badger me about my therapy until I cried @blc1951 before I even had a clue that he might have dementia. One time I took my sadness and distress over his cruelty to a whole crazy level and played it out for hours to send a message, he even called my therapist, himself, at the time. He still keeps a balance of how much I’ve spent
on therapy and throws it out there occasionally. I should have started noticing clues way before. That cruelty was/is so out of character for him.
He plays guitar, and he has started playing guitar while watching tv in the family room/kitchen area, where I am working doing cleaning or cooking or 1000 other things. I am a prisoner where I am working, but there are other
places he could play and/or watch tv. Because I can’t stand the multi sounds at the same time I put earbuds in to listen to music and take them out when he speaks. Being considerate has been completely wiped out.
@sandyar He reads books and tells me what he’s just read all of the time and it’s long drawn out repetition of what he’s read.
And don’t you find yourselves, like you @theglobalnomad1, think of something to say, but then think carefully if you even want to open that for discussion, because of where that discussion could go or you are just too tired and exhausted.
I do complain a lot, but I miss him so much. We met at 15 (from different states) got back together, then married at 19, and have been married 52 years. I would have loved having him to myself again and to have fun going places and doing fun things and enjoying each other’s company. It is what it is.
Thanks for reading this far…
And my whining…