Wow, it has been a long time but I've been busy...with what?  Life, you know, how it gets in the way of your plans.  My house is a mess and I can't find the broom.  Our granddaughter is coming this afternoon to spend a week while her mother is in Iowa getting married which is a great thing but for the next 10 days I will have the granddog, granddaughter, three cats and my husband with Alzheimer's along with trips to League City to feed the other cat who lives there.

Now about the Alz...I've come to realize that he is getting worse in spite of the new medication and it does make life interesting.  Today I can't find the broom.  The dust pan is in its usual home but the broom is missing.  I've looked everywhere and of course, he doesn't remember anything about it.  Glasses are sitting in the cupboard where the coffee mugs sit and naturally, coffee mugs are showing up in the cupboard with the glasses.  And the "sundowning" has begun....that is where the patient goes more confused and rattled around dinner time.  He complains of being tired but I think at some level he is aware that he isn't as sharp as he now wants to walk the dog in the morning instead of the afternoon.  I'm all for it as the days get shorter and the chance of his getting lost increases.  So far he has been able to find his way in the neighborhood but I insist he carry his cell phone.  Now whether he remembers to use when he is lost is another matter. 

This brilliant man has always been somewhat compulsive.He probably had Alz long before he was diagnosed but has been smart enough to develop coping skills to cover up what he couldn't remember or figure out.  He sits at the breakfast table for hours going over the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal with a yellow high lighter and later goes back and cuts them up with articles he wants to read again.  This is a brilliant man who never developed any hobbies...no woodwork, no sport, no stamp collecting, nothing but the space program. 

Last week he was compulsively watering everything in the yard...hose on full blast over and over every day.  The tomatoes drowned, water was running down the street and God knows what our water bill will be.  I try to redirect him but the first thing I know he is out the door and has the water on.  He isn't interested in television very much anymore...he used to watch MSNBC programs over and over but not so much anymore.

He is still such a sweet and kind man.  The cats adore him, the granddog adores him, little children love him and so do I.  It is just so sad to lose one's life partner this way.