This Year is Our Year for Success!

PamS53

I’ve slept on the couch for the past 3 nights with mixed results. He has still managed to get up or almost out of his chair before I wake up. He’s very quiet when he’s doing this. I think in some part of his brain he’s thinking he needs to be quiet so I can sleep and doesn’t realize that I’m there because I want him to wake me. His dementia is much worse at night which means he doesn’t make rational decisions and can’t explain what he was thinking at the time. He’s also experiencing a lot of anxiety, mostly at night. We have appointments next week with his new neurologist and follow up with his surgeon.

Tonight we are going to try to get him comfortable in our bed, which I think we would be much safer for him. At least he could get out of the bed without having to climb over anything. We’ve added suction grab bars in the showers and an elevated toilet seat with arms to make bathroom trips easier for him.

We also have started making definite steps toward downsizing and moving to a smaller, 1-story home. Our next door neighbor is a very successful realtor in our area and she has started searching for potential homes for us. She’s coming over Monday to help us develop a plan for selling our home and make recommendations for needed updates and repairs before listing it. I’ve asked SIL to come and help us purge unneeded items and she has agreed to come for 2 weeks, starting the last week of this month. DH has finally agreed to part with his beloved camper and 1 vehicle, as well as his gun collection and some of his larger tools that take up a lot of space in the garage. He’s finally realizing that he’s no longer physically able to use these items and they need to go in order to simplify our search for a new home.

Helene610

It’s good DH is realizing on his own that he needs to downsize his tools and other collections. He could try selling them. If he has tools left over, he might be able to donate them to Hanitat for Humanity. Such a donation would probably give you a taxable deductible donation.

mdubbs1

Pam - wow, you've certainly got your hands full. I hope you can get the therapy going better and make sure there aren't any unknown medical issues.

He's so lucky to have you.

mdubbs1

The couple across the street from us is not married, to the best of my knowledge, but they've both been living there for some years. We don't know them well as DH can't stand the guy. We do know he's been diagnosed with early stage dementia. DH is concerned that he's still driving. I don't know enough to have any opinion. I did keep checking online until I saw he'd added her name to the house. At least she's protected on that front.