Chris Greisman - 2013-07-24 21:39:10-0400 - Updated: 2013-07-24 21:39:10-0400Visited
Dad. I don't know what happened between now and a week ago, month ago,
even two months ago, but he is amazingly improved!
I walk in, he says hi, beams a smile at me, tells me I look nice today, and pats the bed indicating I should sit down. He says this intelligibly, using sentences, even though the past few weeks he's barely managed one word the entire visit!
We actually talk! Sort of, his comprehension and aphasia are still affected by the dementia, but he's back to the level I thought of as "the new normal": seeming to comprehend, but responding with a sentence that takes deciphering. Much of the conversation was startlingly lucid, he gave actual intelligible responses, e.g.:
Me, "How do you feel?"
Dad, "Like I'm rusting away (sigh)"
Me, "What? Are you made of metal?"
Dad, (gives a deadpan look, raises an eyebrow) "Maybe"
The nurses aide comes in, says he walked over to the room next door by himself yesterday(!!). She then brings some apple sauce. He feeds himself it, effectively and neatly (!?!)
Other than some X-rays he had this morning, they've done nothing to him, nor any recent changes in meds to explain this sudden improvement in function & cognition (unless he's a mutant that needs X-rays to thrive?)
It was also evening when I visited. Usually, dementia patients decline in the evening, this lucidity is unusual. This is a far cry from the dire "he's going downhill fast!" phone calls I had been getting. I am baffled, but delighted!
I walk in, he says hi, beams a smile at me, tells me I look nice today, and pats the bed indicating I should sit down. He says this intelligibly, using sentences, even though the past few weeks he's barely managed one word the entire visit!
We actually talk! Sort of, his comprehension and aphasia are still affected by the dementia, but he's back to the level I thought of as "the new normal": seeming to comprehend, but responding with a sentence that takes deciphering. Much of the conversation was startlingly lucid, he gave actual intelligible responses, e.g.:
Me, "How do you feel?"
Dad, "Like I'm rusting away (sigh)"
Me, "What? Are you made of metal?"
Dad, (gives a deadpan look, raises an eyebrow) "Maybe"
The nurses aide comes in, says he walked over to the room next door by himself yesterday(!!). She then brings some apple sauce. He feeds himself it, effectively and neatly (!?!)
Other than some X-rays he had this morning, they've done nothing to him, nor any recent changes in meds to explain this sudden improvement in function & cognition (unless he's a mutant that needs X-rays to thrive?)
It was also evening when I visited. Usually, dementia patients decline in the evening, this lucidity is unusual. This is a far cry from the dire "he's going downhill fast!" phone calls I had been getting. I am baffled, but delighted!
