Oh, I kinda forgot this! No idea how I forgot but I did! Please read on - it still makes me laugh.
My mum became a thief! She was in a dementia unit so everyone had dementia and they all wandered in and out of each other's rooms. It started with towels. She'd take piles of clean towels from other residents' bathrooms and from housekeeping trolleys and store them in her wardrobe. When the staff ran out of towels, they went to her room! One Christmas, she started taking boxes of chocolates from other people's rooms and sharing them with everyone. She moved on to toothbrushes. Random. She stole all the toothbrushes she could find. Then bars of soap. One night, she'd been up all night. The staff went to check on her and found her EATING a bar of soap that she'd taken from someone's room! She had an allergic reaction to something in the soap so the staff had to call emergency services. They declared her OK after a dose of antihistamine. It was during COVID but they let me in to visit her. She had some swelling due to the allergic reaction. She looked like she'd had bad lip fillers! She was 85 and had huge, pillowy lips that were so out of proportion I was snorting with laughter every time she looked away from me. Honestly, it's probably my favourite memory as I know she'd have found it hilarious were she well enough to understand.
The care home fitted lockable cabinets in all bathrooms, banned solid soap and, to this day, every new staff member receives extensive training on the dangers of soap!!!

I think the on going grief that happens with the decline s the speech loss, the loss of identity yours and his not knowing or being able to respond in a way you can’t determine what his thoughts are. Seeing The loss of ADLs . And now after 11 years of cares you don’t remember the sound of sweet I love you’s ! shared ! You know it’s still there but can’t be voiced or expressed. on his part, I have a recording from 2017 and 2018 at Christmas Us sharing the (Merry Christmas and I love you )It’s so wonderful to hear his voice say it so clearly! So if you have the chance record what you can it may bring tears but it is a keep sake . Jan

Dear Bobbiekay1 & Richard10, Thank you for letting me as a caregiver understand better what my LO is going through. Wishing you both many more years of enjoying life and much love and support from everyone in your life. Take care.

Im dreading that part. I quiz my husband on who our family members are, do far so good.

@A myALZteam Member and @A myALZteam Member. A good book you might find helpful is by Teepa Snow Understanding the Changing Brain. She addresses this as when the brain language center is being damaged by the illness, there is still a language area on the other side of the brain that houses "illicit" language, things you learned but tucked away because they are not ok to use. In an attempt to substitute SOMETHING when a word or expression is missing, it uses what it can find, in the undamaged area.

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