This blog is about life with my husband who was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's and Frontal Lobe Dementia in 2008. He was 64 at the time although now, knowing more about the disease, Alzheimer's was present many, many years ago, which is why early detection is so important. As you read the blog the character "Al" that I created in 2008, represents the way that Alzheimer's is invading our daily lives.
There is an archive tab further down the page that starts from the beginning of our journey.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Living with Bob and "Al"

In Sheri's never ending quest for something that will keep Bob busy for a while, Sheri had a task that Bob and "Al" wound up spending the majority of the day doing. This was a blessing because the frozen tundra has set in, and going out side was not really an option. Every day at "work" ( code for Adult Day Center) Bob does a trivia sheet, which he then brings home to share with Sheri. Bob has been bringing these home for well over a year now. Sheri bought him a large white binder, (the kind he was familiar with from his real work days) and every now and then she will gather up all the neatly folded trivia sheets that Bob has placed all over the house and have him punch holes in them and put them in the binder.They have been doing this for quite a while now so the majority of them were already in the binder.Sheri handed Bob the 2 weeks worth of new ones, sat Bob and "Al" down in their chair and suggested they add these new ones to the binder.
Bob was pleased that he had a task, and set about the process. This type of task is when Sheri is reminded just out of sync Bob's mind is. As he started sorting the new sheets, he became distracted by the old sheets, reading them out loud as best he could. Then he started taking the old sheets out of the binder creating a huge pile, mixing the old with the new, the hole punched with the not hole punched. Bob became overwhelmed and confused. He shook his head and said he was not sure he could get this done. Then he would say this was to much to handle. Sheri gently reminded him that he really just needed to add the new ones to the book, He stayed steadfast at the task, mentioning to Sheri that this collection would surely be of value some day. Then about 4 hours in (truly) he stood up and with his thumb in his belt loop stretched out his back in his usual way and said "Do we have a copy machine any more? I should make a copy of these and bring them to work, I bet they would really enjoy them."
My dear sweet man...  :)




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