Wednesday, April 22, 2009

CHANGE IS UPSETTING

Oct 18th, 2008
Elbert did not bat an eyelash until 4 a.m. Needless to say I did not sleep either. I wonder if he feels the anticipation or anxiety in the household - or was it just 'one of those nights'. One will never know.

You see, our son is moving from Nebraska to Virginia. Daughter Shirley and her hubby went out to help him with the move. Shirley had called to say that the caravan had made it to the Virginia state line and they would arrive here around 2. Shirley was driving Michael's car packed with stuff, John was driving a U-Haul and Michael was driving his Mountaineer and pulling a travel trailer with it. They must have been a sight to see going down the highway.


Then the call came.... they wouldn't be here by two, the U-Haul had caught fire. They didn't lose anything of Michaels but that old U-Haul just couldn't make those steep mountains. Some trucker, bless his heart, stopped and had the fire out by the time the firetrucks got there. They had to leave the U-Haul behind for repairs.

So, the household was in an uproar, me and Marie hurrying to cook then having to put it on hold. Phone calls and then finally the gang got here. Naturally Elbert would be upset.

The next night we had another bad, bad night. Elbert got up at midnight but went right back to bed..... however..... at 15 til 2 he jumped out of bed like he was a youngster and started searching for his shoes. I started trying to coax him back to bed but he said rather firmly, 'No I've got to get my things and go home'. Every time I'd tell him to go to bed he'd say 'You go to bed' and he'd take my arms and try to push me. He's pulled away from me before but never used force to push or shove me. This was new.

No explanation worked. At one point he said, 'I've got to go' and I told him I wanted to go with him and he said he couldn't do that for me, for me to stay here and go to bed. I said, 'but I want to go with you in the morning. We're married and we need to be together' and the shocker came. He replied, 'I am married to a little girl named Willie. I don't know if you are married or not. Go to bed'.

                                                             the girl that he married


Finally he sat down on the edge of the bed mentally exhausted. In a few minutes he lay down but he did not go to sleep for a very long time. Neither did I. He had not known me, not known I was his wife, he just wanted to leave... I was very sad.

Two nights later he was up again, this time looking for HIS bed. He wandered from room to room with me in hot pursuit. I finally got him to lay down in a bed in another room but that didn't last long. He was up wandering again so I steered him toward his own bed and finally got him to crawl in, much against his will. I started snuggling, saying I was cold, I wanted him to keep me warm. I started rubbing his arms and hands, very gently, as I talked about his Navy days. I was so tired I'd drift off to sleep only to hear a voice asking questions like 'How did you do in bootcamp?' 'Did you like it?' 'Did anybody get hurt?' He thought I had been in the Navy. He has no grasp of reality whatsoever. I don't know when he quit asking me about my Navy days, I just kept drifting off but he, at least, did not get up again. Perhaps he, too, drifted off. Ahhh, blessed sleep.

2 comments:

Martha Z said...

That must have been very hard, having him not know you but I bet your glad to have your son close by to give you his support. It sounds like you have a wonderful, loving family,

Peggy said...

Hi Latane it is getting harder to read the progression of the disease and the effects on you especially, it must be soul destroying to actually live through it.