It is July 20 and the temperature is slated to get up to 95 degrees. It has been very hot over the past week but we have been enjoying summer to the fullest. Most days Rich and I sit outside on the front porch and have our morning coffee and our Bible reading. Now that our patio has been enlarged in the backyard, we’ve been sitting out there in the evenings. Our front yard gets the shade in the mornings (actually until about 2 p.m.) and our backyard gets the afternoon and evening shade. It is really the perfect scenario.
Rich has been doing great! He is happy and upbeat most of the time. He gets confused and a bit disoriented in the evenings especially but even then he has been so sweet. The other night he asked me when his memory condition started. It was a hard question to answer because I’m not exactly sure. I knew that he had a problem the summer of 2017 and that we needed help moving forward. However, in actuality I had been wondering what was going on for a couple of years prior to that summer. Rich had seemed depressed and withdrawn and often irritable or angry. Since that wasn’t normal behavior for him, I was naturally concerned.
The summer of 2017, things came to a head and I knew that I needed help to persuade Rich to go to the doctor for a diagnosis. I am forever grateful for my girls and our son-in-laws, Justin and Brent. Kelly and Justin came over one night in July and helped me stage an intervention with Rich. Justin could not have been more helpful and kind. He told Rich that he and Kelly would be there for us every step of the way (and they have been). Kelly made the doctor’s appointment and Kelly and Becca went with to the first appointment with Dr. Balance. When it was apparent that Rich should no longer drive, Justin went with us to St. Luke’s Elks Rehab Hospital and was with Rich during his testing with Kim, the occupational therapist. Justin gave both of us support and I am so grateful. Although Hollie was living in Mountain Home then, she met with her sisters and me and helped to strategize and offered much support during this time.
It has been a long road but knowing what we were dealing with has made the journey easier. Becca and Brent stepped up and suggested us moving in with them and we have been together for two years on June 15. What a blessing it is to us!
I was initially very concerned when Becca and Brent decided to sell our house in Caldwell. I thought that the change would prove very difficult for Rich but the move has been actually a blessing to all of us. Rich is so social that our old neighborhood was lonely for him and it was hard on Henry (13) and Jack (11), too. They love having friends across the street that they can ride bikes with and hang out with in their swimming pool! Rich waves to everyone as they pass by in the vehicles and visits with all of our neighbors. They love him!!
Yesterday we had a scare when Rich misplaced his glasses. Rich and I searched for over an hour in the backyard, in the house, and in the garage for his glasses. Rich eventually found them on the floor near his tools in the garage. The day before he accidentally threw his glasses in the trash and it took some searching to find them! I have decided that we need to go and get an eye exam and order a back-up pair of glasses! Rich misplaces his phone on a regular basis, too. I wish that everything was as easy to find as his phone (although sometimes he forgets to charge it and it doesn’t “ring” when I call it)! I suspect that losing things is going to continue to increase as dementia steals his mind.
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