We went to see Louise for her birthday. She was happy to see us and happier to learn that is was her birthday. We had to improvise with the candle so we used a taper candle off the dining room table. She wasn’t sure what we were doing, and honestly, it was a bit unusual. However, she sang with us and blew out the candle. She seemed to know we usually have a crew with us and it must have seemed odd for there to only be 3 of us. She asked if the other kids were at home. We explained that they were all off at college and she got confused. We pulled out a picture from Thanksgiving and showed her each one. She seemed to understand, then Hannah called and Louise asked her where she was. She had already forgotten our explanation just five minutes prior.
She fed the dogs even though Ray had already done it. They would clean their plates, and she would think they hadn’t eaten and give them more. She was also confused on her medicine. She kept looking at the different compartments for the different days and asking what day it is. We said Friday and she looked to see that it was empty, but then wasn’t sure if she had taken it. Ray told her she had, that he had watched her take it but she was wondering if she should take Saturday yet. For the most part she can get through the day with Ray at her side, but there are times, like with the medicine confusion, where memory loss can be dangerous. It doesn’t seem to be getting better, leading me to believe that it may very well be the new baseline. While that is discouraging, she is still Louise. She has not lost what makes her who she is. She has the ability to converse, to joke around about her “weird world,” and she can move around the house fine. She gets adamant about things, like feeding the dogs, but she can be distracted because if you redirect her she forgets what she was doing. If you saw her you would know it was her. The fun thing about today is that every time she heard it was her birthday she was surprised. Now that is a way to have a birthday!