This morning I gave my husband his breakfast and cup of tea, helped him in the toilet, sat him in his chair and put the telly on. I gave him the handset of our remote doorbell, gave him a kiss and told him to stay put while I have a shower. he just said, "Yes ".
I stood in the shower and washed my hair and put conditioner on. I then used a body scrub that I was given for my birthday, one of those with little bits in. I was nicely covered when the door bell started playing Fur Elise. I grabbed my towelling dressing gown and ran downstairs, flinging open the lounge door. There he was, on the chair smiling. "Just testing", he said.
It's good to know he still has his sense of humour.....conditioner dripping from my hair, I very nearly lost mine but the relief was greater than my annoyance.
Nanna B
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NannaB
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nanna b what a lovely story it was a pleasure to read best wishes and good luck to you both im very glad he still has hes sense of humour peter jones queensland australia psp sufferer
Thank you for sharing! I really needed this! My dad is past this stage and is now in a hospital bed and doesn't speak or walk..this brought back memories. He too had a door bell he use to push when he needed something. It's funny how when they push it over and over it can become hard to hear, then when you don't hear it anymore you miss it so much. Thank you for the memory!!
jaaaaaaaaaa you know i have the same doorbell the same song jaaaaaa and my father make this too he test a lots of time and i want to kill him ( its a joke )
This reminds me of my late husband. We had two-way radios to allow me to go outside to cut the grass. I would ask if he needed the loo before going to get the mower out, "no" would be the answer. After getting it cranked up and just ready to go, the radio would buzz. Back inside boots off, gloves off etc - what do you need? Nothing - just testing! Clobber on, back outside, one strip cut, buzzzz, same routine, inside, what do you need? Maybe I should just try to go to the toilet. This could go on for a few more times. AAAAAAAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHH
I have about a quarter of an acre of garden so it took about 3 days to get it cut.
In spite of your frustration and wet hair dripping etc, you were able to appreciate the funny side of it. it is a brilliant story and I am glad you can still find your sense of humour.
I lost my husband Chris in June last year. We used to communicate with a baby monitor especially at night becuse he had a hospital bed downstairs and I slept upstairs. It was brilliant for when he could no longer find a voice. He just had to bang on the table or bedside bars and I would hear. Imagine my amazement, distress and fear when I turned over in bed at 3am to find the stairs light on and no sound from Chris. I leapt out of bed and rushed to the stairs to find that he had got himself out of bed at the bottom end where the "cot side" finished and climbed/crawled up the stairs. When i got over my shock and fear of him falling he told me he could not make me hear and thought that I had died. Can you imagine my horror when I found that I had been so tired when i went to bed that I had forgotten to turn the wretched monitor on, despite the fact that my habit had been to always test it out by calling goodnight to him on the baby monitor.
I think we all have tales to tell and share and my heart goes out to everyone travelling this painfull road.
Hi Tina, I can well understand your tiredness. A couple of weeks ago my husband managed to get out of bed past the bed guard, out of the door, locked with a croaking frog attached to it, and onto the quite noisy stair lift which has an additional piece at the bottom of the stairs which crashes to the floor. Fortunately he managed to get to his chair without falling. It was 9 am before I woke. Time to get one of those pressure pad alarm sheet things I think. So sorry you lost Chris and hope you are managing to live your life to the full.
Where would we all be without a sense of humour . I think we all wonder sometimes how we do cope ...
Even in the middle of reading these posts out, my husband interrupts me to say , I think I can go to the toilet now Lol ..
Well I am back . No success this time .
It was only last week when I had got up while he was still asleep , went downstairs to make myself a cup of tea that when I Went back up he was crying in bed because he couldn't make me hear . Thought I was still in bed and had died . We also have a doorbell but he couldn't manage to reach it and had panicked .
Even though now we have an alarm system set up I still hold my breath when coming back inside the house worried that a he will be on the floor .
i cried when my husband went and left me in the shower - he never does this but hd just popped along the corridor to put something in the kitchen - i called out to him but got no reply so i just burst into tears - he cams back in a few seconds but i was too upset to let him know how i felt - the fear of being stranded in the shower was just too awful -
Dear Anna, for the first time on this community website, you are the one who made me laught with your story and l think your are admirable and that is you who has the great sence of humour!! ... who love you have , your husband is lucky to have you!
thanks for this little nice story in the middle of this awfull un fair disease.
I know it won't be long before I can't leave my husband for a minute and even now it's for very short periods, and I can't leave the house without taking him with me or getting someone to sit with him. It's hard knowing what is to come but we are making the most of what we have now and still trying to build some happy memories.
I do hope you are able to laugh sometimes Heinrich. With this condition it is the only medicine that seems to do any good.
Thanks for all your responses. It's interesting to see how everyone has similar experiences. Thanks also Shasha for giving me an insight into how it feels to be left alone. My husband never tells me how he is feeling, other than saying, "I'm fine", if I ask him. He did do his funny little humming laugh when he saw me dripping though, so I think he did it for fun.
They always say laughter is the best medicine, providing you can find something to laugh at, At the moment i watch 'Miranda' Hart, i think her show is so funny she has me in stitches, she always makes me feel better, i have her on record and i watch her when i feel down.
Thanks for sharing a funny story. We need the humor. I bought two bells, the type you tap on top and it rings. Like those you would see on the hotel lobby desk or in a business. Her coordination for tapping on the bell is so bad she can't ring it. Strange but she can drink from cups and eat with her hands but something about ringing the bell (coordination?) she finds difficult. When she attempt it the bell barely rings her tap is so slight.
I wonder if she'd be better with a remote control door bell. My husband pushes it with his thumb. He sometimes presses the wrong end but knows when he has done this and turns it round. The coordination thing is strange. He can put down a cup or plate but can't drop something into a bin or put down soft things, clothes, apron's etc. He can't let go of them. He'll hold things over a bin or chair/table for ages until I take it from him.
I bought my Mom Irene a crystal glass bell from a charity shop, so she could ring it if she needed me. Well, needless to say, after a week I pulled the clacker thing out of it, she was sending me mad ! She picked up the bell and wondered why it wouldn't ring. Three years after her passing I still have the clacker-less bell, couldn't bear to get rid of it. Wish she'd ring it now !!
I know what you mean Jane. As my husbands illness progresses, I miss each thing he can't do any more. He used to make an awful mess making tea and I'd get fed up with constantly cleaning but now I wish he could make the mess. Sorry about your mum. I hope you have many happy memories. We are trying to build happy memories and make the most of every day.
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PSP Brain or Railing at the Gods?
Gone into I don't care mode 
