Ridiculous coping mechanisms

@kjc48 My husband would also take the TV controller to weird places because he has lost his ability to sequence. Eg. which button to press before the next button. Same with his Phone ( which he doesn't have anymore) and then if he sees my phone he plays with that. My kids tell me that they sometimes get really strange texts from him. For me, I decided to just hide my phone and the TV controller. If he asks where it is, I just say I don't know, must be here somewhere and then distract him with something else. Saves me a lot of frustration. If he had the TV controller he would not be able to use it and would get frustrated or tell me that it's broken. Works for me.

@ocdogmom I love that.........hide the controller. That works for me too. Thanks for your share.

@judimahoney I get up early in the morning so that I can have the time to enjoy my coffee, a quiet house, and to mentally prepare myself for the day. It helps me to face whatever may come once my hubby wakes up. 😊

@labrown
I do the exact same thing.
I am throwing a hissy fit this morning though because he got up way too early, wouldn't go back to bed, so I am missing my 'me' time this morning.

@kjc48 you made me laugh (which is unusual) 😂when my wife wants to “clean up “ after dinner i know it’s going to be a witch hunt looking for everything she touches 😳 but it’s not her who hid everything from me, it’s that horrible fnnn disease, so i just shake my head and call it a day 😜

@tunared You must be a fisherman, from your "tunared handle" - my husband, the Captain is a fisherman and boater too, or he was! And I'm glad I made you laugh. We need each other to see the humor in everything taking place. I shake my head and call it a day, too. Then wake up, and the day is on overload! At least we're waking up.
Best, The fisherman's mate!

I need a way to handle the following. My husband and I are finally selling our house that we have lived in for 45 years. Needless to say there’s a lot of work involved in going through all of the books, drawers, closets, garage, basement, attic, etc. and deciding what to take and what to give away or throw away. We are lucky that the buyers of our house want a lot of our furniture.

My problem is that my husband thinks we do not need a mover and can do all the packing and moving in batches. I can barely get through each day helping him cope with his memory loss, handling all the meal prep, house maintenance, and financial management without also worrying about packing and moving. Any suggestions?

Wow! Moving after 45 years in the same house. We have been in our house that long too. I agree that it will be a lot of work for you on top of all that you already do. I would suggest that you might meet your husband halfway on this. You could agree that the two of you can do all the packing as only you will know what you want to take with you to your new house. Be sure to mark all the boxes with what room the box needs to go in. That way the movers can put the boxes in the correct rooms. But insist that you will not do the moving yourselves and that hiring a mover would be more efficient instead of many trips of you loading and unloading boxes but the most important reason is that you need to take care of yourself given all the responsibilities you now have taken on. I would start the process by looking in to your local moving companies to compare prices and conditions. Do they charge by the hour, the distance, the weight of the goods? Good luck, I hope all goes well with the move.

Hi
Glad I am not the only one having to play find the saucepan or frying pan.
My wife insists on doing the washing up and then finding ever more inventive places to put the plates and cutlery. Still what would life be without the odd annoyance.Sivad

@grandmajoan That is a lot! No question.

I do part-time work as a home organizer and one of the services we provide is packing and unpacking. I can tell you that, if it's possible, it's worth every penny. Professional packers label, organize and box anything and everything and when you get a team of several people, you can get your entire house done in a day. They bring all the packing materials (and that can be a lot) and then that giant headache is gone. Also, if you'd like, they can unpack and organize everything in your new place. A very, very stressful situation is lightened.

Maybe maybe .... explain to hubby that it's not possible to get it all done and you're going to ask some nice people to come in and help. Maybe maybe... plan for hubby to do something that day if possible so he is not distressed by the activity. You can still do the "moving" yourselves but at least it's all ready to go and you can rest easy.

Definitely try to get some help one way or the other though. We know our clients can get easily overwhelmed in this situation and that's in the best of circumstances. You have another level of stress with your husband's memory and all your other responsibilities.

God speed to you and yours.