The slide

I finally sent a text to Don's sister, Katy, in Virginia.  The gist was - come while he still knows who you are.   It seems to me during these last two weeks of May, Don is on a downward spiral.  He is more unsteady on his feet.  As a result, he can't make it to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  A combination of sleepiness, darkness, and unsteadiness makes the trip to the bathroom fraught with peril.  After cleaning up the floor for two nights multiple times,  I have started to turn on the lights myself, regardless if it wakes me up to the point I cannot go back to sleep.  Either I turn on the lights and wake up, or clean the floor and wake up, or change the sheets and, of course, wake up.  Full nights of sleep are not in my immediate future.

The night problems are accompanied by day problems.  Don is resisting going to his day program.  And taking meds because either it is too much trouble or because I am telling him to do it.  He is forgetting how to cook things he has been making for years.   He asked me to help him make a quiche.   I have never made a quiche, so I looked it up on the Internet.  It turned out good, but he still complained about it.

In the last week I have started to help him get dressed in the morning.  He is having trouble, as Abraham Lincoln says, putting on his pants one leg at a time.    Half the time they are on backwards.  He has no butt any more, so it doesn't really make a difference other the pockets point backward toward his rear.   I am not sure whether he can't see the two different leg openings, or can't comprehend how they relate to his two legs.

Getting him to eat is a struggle.   I know he is not eating all his meals.  Taking him out to eat means he does eat, and going to his day program means he does eat.   But so often he says he has no appetite.   My cooking, such as it isn't, will not tempt him.  He has lost another 15 lbs at least.     He seems to lose a little more brain function every 2-3 days.   We have a series of doctor appointments coming up, and I hope that will get us some answers.    I am not sure I will like the answers we get.