On March 2nd Elbert had been talking nonsense all afternoon, trying so hard as he hunted in his brain for words to come and they just would not. That makes it hard for me to know what he is trying to say. Sometimes I can complete the sentence much like a couple who is so intuned to each other, sometimes I have no clue where he is try to go with the jumble of words.
Nightime fell and I started to put Elbert to bed but he could not rise up out of his chair. If he couldn't get up he sure couldn't walk, so, I got the wheelchair and pushed him into the bathroom. He stood up in front of the commode and fell, his legs straddling the commode. Our bathroom is long and narrow and there's no room for a 6 ft man to lie down there. His head was resting on the wheelchair footrests. The chair was wedged in the doorway but I managed to wiggle it free and grabbed a coverlet off the bed to put under Elberts head. There was no way I could get Elbert up with him in that position so I called next door and Shirley and John came running. Once Elbert was up we noticed his speech was slurred and he still was not making any sense. I would have called 911 but John, being the steady soul that he is, said let's watch him a few minutes and so we did. Before long Elbert was telling his daughter all sort of stuff that sounded like the old Elbert so we knew he was going to be alright.
I didn't sleep worth a darn, heard every noise and was on my feet at each sound but we made it through the night.Four days later Elbert fell again but he was in the hallway so I got him up that time by myself.
May 4th we celebrated our son in laws birthday. There was a big cookout at their house with their children in attendance. We walked over. Elbert sat outside with the guys and before long he was the life of the party, doing one-liners to comments people would make, so much like the old Elbert. We had such a grand time and at nine he was still steady enough for us to walk back home. We have to love times like this.
1 comment:
Hi Latane, the disease is progressing at a frightening rate, the falls must be terrifying as you dont know when they can happen.Family days like this must be memorable when as you say you get a glimpse of the old Elbert.
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