Always Look On The Bright Side of Life ...Ppphhhhtttt!

https://youtu.be/eTXiqKGFNso

 

There are just sometimes that Grandpa is not in the best of moods.

 

Tuesday night he got really mad that I didn't take him to church.

Now, he doesn't attend our church and when he has

he loves to sing (Oh, how the Sister Missionaries were giggling one week!)

but complains about how noisy our congregation is compared with his.

 

He wouldn't get off of this and just went on and on, not being convinced

that it wasn't me but his wife that didn't take him.

Nope.

Sleep finally got him and he woke up in the best of moods. Yay!

 

There was another incident on Wednesday night I won't go into

because it was about an illegal activity that I couldn't support.

 

It is hard sometimes to look on the bright side while in the midst of

turmoil.  A day later it doesn't seem nearly a bad.  And when

he wakes up and says, "I'm glad you are here!"

It makes it all worth it.

Aphasia - Is That You Talking?

Something that really bugs me is how most people think Steve is incapable of understanding them since he has dementia.  Eve started talking over and around Steve several years ago and it bugged me then.  Steve understands most of what is going on around him.  But because he can't always verbalize what he wants to say they think, "Well, he can't talk.  He can't think.".  People are stupid.

Expressive aphasia (non-fluent aphasia) is characterized by the loss of the ability to produce language (spoken or written). Sufferers of this form of aphasia exhibit the common problem of agrammatism. For them, speech is difficult to initiate, non-fluent, labored, and halting. Writing is difficult, as well. Intonation and stress patterns are deficient. Language is reduced to disjointed words, and sentence construction is poor, omitting function words and inflections (bound morphemes). A person with expressive aphasia might say "Son ... University ... Smart ... Good ... Good ... " (Wikipedia)

Steve has moments when he gets out very clear sentence but few people hear them because he only speaks clearly when he is calm or happy and not stressed.  He has been stressed for a while.  You also have to listen.  Few people take the time to just ask a question and then wait for an answer.  It can be a few seconds or a minute or more.  Sometime Steve answers a question I asked 20 minutes before - and we have had a couple more questions in between - and I have to go back and think about what I asked. 

I think the aphasia Steve has falls into a couple of categories and at his age no one is going to really do a bunch of testing to see what he specifically has.  Here is what I know: Steve gets what is going on and has become depressed often by conversations held around him, about him. 

We need to remember that people are no matter what state YOU think they are in.  Respect and love will get them and you to a much better place.

Another Day in Hades

4:15 pm – We took cheesecake for Steve tonight.  Steve kept saying, “I’m trying with her.” And “She won’t.”.  'Her' and 'She' is Eve. I asked if he was trying to get her to take him and he nodded.  He ate most of the ravioli and potatoes but didn’t like the bread.  He really likes the fruit cocktail of all things.  He even eats the squishy grapes ... blah.   We brought him cheesecake again and he really enjoyed it.  He did ask for a beer.  (He does this every time we come.) 

We walked the halls and met up with Steve's ‘Spanish Beauty’ who sang to him twice.  She is a lovely woman who is in the long-term care wing.  She seems to be trying to make the most of what is her life but when you first look at her, before she has a chance to react, she looks sad and forlorn. She sings Spanish love songs and it is achingly beautiful.  We haven't seen anyone visiting her which makes me sad. 

This is a sad place.  It has little joy.  You can see the visitors trying but the smiles seem pasted on for the person they are visiting.  The moment their backs are turned you can see the sadness or sorrow on their faces.  Do I have this too?  I know I feel that way.

 

Don't Underestimate Me.

People who have dementia are NOT stupid or incapable of
clear thought.  They just may not be able to get it
out clearly enough for stupid people
who discount their worth
and what they can
contribute.
Love
all.