MORE DOWNHILL

More downhill – both for James and for me. As usual, he asks the same question over and over. He sleeps about 18 hours a day. Gets up and drinks a pot of coffee while he reads the paper, (he will sometimes read bits to me and read the same thing again three or four times), eats a bowl of cereal, lays down on sofa and sleeps until 11:00 I wake him up for lunch. He eats and goes back to the sofa and sleeps until 4 or 5 o'clock. He starts wanting to go to bed about 7:30 or 8:00.

He asked me recently what my name was. I told him. He asked how it was spelled. I told him. He said that was how he thought that is how it would be spelled. I had the feeling he knew I was his wife – just couldn't remember my name.

He can still tell time but at least once a day he asks if it is morning or evening.

It is really hard to get him to shave and bathe. Often I just take the path of least resistance and let him go as he is.

AND ME. I have been having physical problems from the neck up. Mold and strange stuff in my sinuses and nasal passages. Serious dental problems and tear ducts stopped up. They told me in a caregivers meeting that several studies had been done that found that 90% of illnesses are caused by stress. I googled it. It seems that stress breaks down immune systems that let you get sick. I must be the only person left in the world who had not heard that.

The good news is really good news. He is still easy to get along with – at least most of the time. When we go somewhere, I can count on him being polite. According to things I hear and read, that is a real blessing.