Hello everyone,
As an added benefit to to my young dementia, I often have trouble finding the word/s I want to use in conversation. For some strange reason, I don't really have that problem as often when I write so writing is quickly becoming my favorite mode of expression. Now most of the time this is just an inconvenience, a minor embarrassment. I try to help others understand what is happening and most get it or at least eagerly try. Those that don't want to understand what's happening can not be informed. But that's alright, as my daddy used to say, "They don't pay my bills.".
Although, as I said, to this point I've considered this an inconvenience but the seriousness of this word loss was brought home to me a few days ago. I was looking for my wife's nurse to tell her that my wife's IV was trying to back out of its site. Now here's the serious part. I could not get one word of this out of my mouth even though I knew exactly what I wanted/needed to say. All I could do was stand in the middle of the hallway, point at my arm where the IV should be, and mimic the IV backing out and the tape coming loose to the nurse. At first she looked at me like I had lost my mind. (Of course I haven't! I'm quickly losing it but I still know where it is most days.) Much to her credit, she quickly figured out my game of charades and corrected the problem.
My main reason for this post is to not only give a view into, and possibly an understanding of, our daily misadventures. But also to try to explain the frustration and seriousness of this situation to those of you who love and care for us. I know it often looks as though we are just not paying attention or we're faking it, because who couldn't say, "the IV is coming out". So simple, right? Not for us, and now I too understand exactly how serious this can get very quickly.
Randy
