Perhaps it was the change of venue, up north, then back home, but Mac has been asking questions about his condition, especially tonight. Getting down to the basement to look at his office, checking out the laundry room, and trying to put things in perspective. He remembered that he was off base last night, and this morning also; as he was asking me where I spent the night as I was certainly NOT in bed with him...so tonight after dinner he wanted to have a session to check just what is what around here.
So first it was the house, is it all our's and there are three floors, no one else shares this house, but who was here this morning. I clarified that for him by explaining that Gaye's husband Bill stayed with him while we, Gaye Valerie and i attended a funeral. That seemed to open up a kind of flood gate. He wanted to know now just when did this memory, or relationship problem start. Like, when did you first notice I didn't know my relatives. When did I stop knowing my own family, like my mother - oh i know her I recognize her, but what about my brother...my sisters...I explained and we went on from there to his own family, his children, and then he asked ....What started all this - how did you or the doctor know I had this problem? Why did we go to a doctor in the first place. Wow this was amazing he was so consistent and on-target in his questioning now.
I said, well it started about 5 or 6 years ago that we noticed you were driving erratically, actually your friend Owen - from Australia, insisted we go to the doctor...after driving home from the country with you...he said, to me ...you must go to the doctor... So we did...o.k. so what did the doctor do to prove that I had a problem. He gave you tests, with simple questions, such as what is your address, where are we right now...and you were able to answer all questions quite well...actually perfectly well..but over the years, you have been unable to answer many of the simpler questions, therefore your meds have increased. Why is it important that he know that I know my address for petes sake. Well i answered for one thing if you are out somewhere and don't know your own address you can get lost...for that matter i added do you know your phone number....hmmm said Mac i see what you mean.
Well give yourself a break, i sai, you've done very well , why don't we go up and watch some t.v.////Boring said Mac, I think i should concentrate on trying to remember...I'm going to go over all the pictures and we will try to get my mind working so i know more, or understand what's going on. For the most part you do understand what's going on, but you have difficulty remembering the past...That's right i have that big gap, where I don't remember how we lived ...it's really strange..but I said you do remember today do you and you remember Bill this morning..and Valerie was here...and Gaye...well yes - and you remember Finley...our great grand baby... of course, he said, that is right NOW...but I'm going to try to improve my memory.
This is an interesting and perhaps a little plateau we've reached where he is more cognizant of his own condition therefore will try to make it something he can work on in some way...perhaps through talking and then trying to remember what we talked about...will stop this blog and see if he remembers what he has just gone through with me - it's been about one hour...we'll see if he remembers the conversation. I don't think he will...will let you know.
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