Ralph survived BabyRalph’s birthday party, but I wouldn’t say he had a great time. The 6-hour drive down included a lot of pit stops, several barely in time. Ralph took a nap as soon as we arrived Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning I left him and my son at the AirBnB while I went over to my daughter’s to help prepare for the party. When I picked up my son later in the morning, Ralph was not interested in getting up yet. He ended up “resting” until almost one—the party was at two. The party ended at four and Ralph took another nap, until I made him wake up to eat something at nine. We drove home the next day after brunch—at which Ralph complained about the confusing menu although he ate every bit of his meal. I was exhausted, not from the drive or the baby, but from the anxiety.

Actually exhausted may be the wrong word. Living with and caring for Ralph at this stage on the Alzheimer’s spectrum—when his loss of memory and coping skills are not always obvious to others but demand careful management from me—can be physically and emotionally tiring. As I’ve said before, thinking for two is draining. But it is not the whoosh of exhaustion that bothers me as much as the slow drip drip drip:

The repetition of course, the constant re-explaining. But also the small limitations that seem to be shrinking my world an inch at a time. His growing resistance, that may or may not connect to inability, to sit through a movie or a restaurant meal with friends, or a TV program with me, or a conversation. His growing resistance, that may or may not connect to inability, to doing small chores from changing a light bulb to putting his dishes in the dishwasher. And most of all his growing resistance to leaving the farm. In each case, even as I fight to keep active in the larger world, I find myself lowering my own expectations.

It may not be fair, but I resent the limitations he’s putting on my life. I’m a healthy woman in my late 60s and I want to enjoy these years, but I feel saddled a little more heavily all the time. I can’t help wondering, given the history of a marriage in which he often didn’t pull his weight, whether Ralph wouldn’t be behaving in some of these ways even without Alzheimer’s.

At the same time, I know how lucky I am. Lucky that Ralph’s condition is drip drip drip, not the plunge downward others have experienced. Lucky that we are financially stable. Lucky that that I have the luxury of being resentful over such small problems….

P.S. Here is a link to an article from the NY Times on preparing advance directives in case of future dementia. The information is probably too late if you have already been diagnosed, but worth considering for the rest of us….. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/health/dementia-advance-directive.html?hpw&rref=health&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well