Bedtime adventures

   
The evening bed routine with John has grown from a simple procedure to a time of  new surprises.  He often says I am going to get ready for bed now and goes into his room and shuts the door.  After a period of 15 minutes or so he appears proudly in the door way and announces he ready for bed wearing a different set of street clothes.  He has replaced blue jeans with corduroys , a shirt with a sweater and possibly even changed shoes.

"No, No, John, you have to put on your pajamas," I say.

"Oh, yea, I forgot.  Where are my pajamas?  I can't find them."

"No problem I will find them."   After laying them on the bed, I leave the room and go back to my laptop computer or t.v. show.

Fifteen minutes later, to my surprise, John appears again without the pajamas.  This time a different combo of street clothes.  I remind him that his p.j. are on the bed and he has to wear them because they are the most comfortable to sleep in at night.  "Oh, yes, I forgot!"  John will sometimes get into a discussion about which shoes are the best to wear at this point and how he changed them.

Generally, this routine takes 30 minutes in the evening.   The most shocking was the evening that his p.j.s were under this corduroys!  We both laughed at that one.

I have been warned by experienced people and my Doctor that the difficult of living with an Alzheimer person is when they turn night into day.  

John has occasionally leave his light on after getting up to use the bathroom.  I am generally light sleeper, I have gently and easily tell him to turn off the light.  There were a couple nights, though, I found him totally dressed to start the day.  That involved a conversation about darkness and sleep time and the light must go off.

Those times, I find frightening because I realize if it continues, it is a major sign of deterioration of my ability to care for him 24/7.