Thanksgiving has come and gone successfully. My mom and dad, husband and kids went over to my cousins house here in Gilbert. There were lots of family there who traveled in from other states. All of these people my dad knew very well.It was interesting to see my dad and how he interacted with everyone. It was interesting because he had no interaction. He sat quietly next to my mom and just watched and listened. People would come up to him to say hello and shake his hand or give him a hug. I think he went along with it to be nice but had no clue who anyone was. I am not sure if anyone realized how bad the Alzheimer's has become until they saw him that day. I think he surprised most everyone. He is usually one to talk up a storm at parties and I always remember him walking around hugging and kissing everyone and making sure he did not neglect one person in the room. He used to make everyone laugh with his special humor. He no longer is capable of doing any of that. It's pretty amazing how Alzheimer's makes you feel lonely and scared. I say that because I noticed that is how he was feeling. He felt as lonely as the turkey, plopped on the platter in the middle of the table for everyone to admire.
The next day, I spoke to my mom and she said he has not recovered. He is more confused than ever before. In her opinion, being around all those people was too overwhelming for my dad. The reason for her feeling that way is because prior to Thanksgiving Day, my dad could find the bathroom okay or find the water dispenser okay (those were the two things he did on his own) but today he can't do any of that. Will he recover from this? I don't know. We will see.
1 comments:
I'm sorry but I laughed a bit when you said he was like the lonely turkey. I shouldn't have laughed but it was a very good comparison. My mom used to be the life of the party too and slowly became the sad & quiet wallflower.
I found my mom would be overwhelmed by gatherings and be worse than usual for a bit after but she would bounce back after a few days. I think it's quite a stressful event for them to be at parties because I think some part of their brain starts signalling "there's something wrong with me" and it's very scary to be "aware" of something being wrong. At the same time, it's good for them to be around people who love them so you really can't win!
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