My Husband is a Stranger
It all started in earnest the day my husband went missing. He had gone alone downtown to run an errand and didn’t return. I called the sheriff after five hours. When he was gone overnight, they started looking harder and took a toothbrush for DNA.
Turns out Jim was trying to walk home. He had forgotten where he parked his car. After a day and a half, he was located safe. I got an appointment with a neurologist soon after, and Alzheimer’s was the diagnosis.
After the diagnosis
Since then, he has become incontinent and has lost all ability to speak. Jim spends the day in his recliner, often looking at the same sheet of comics from the newspaper over and over. He is calm and compliant, and it could be much worse. He seems to recognize me.
I am 80; he is 75. I have recently had help from Hospice for twice-a-week showers and nurse advice. They also sent a big box of supplies. Hospice helps with dementia, not necessarily end-of-life.
The support has helped my frame of mind a lot. My goal is to keep Jim home until the end, and Hospice will help me do that.
This is our story.
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