You asked for it.....

Hi all! Hope this finds you all well. Things have been pretty chaotic in our house the past couple of months. The newest member of our family came roaring in on October 30th. Our beautiful Addiena Elizabeth Vail is finally here, and completely healthy! :) I love that they honored my mom by using her name, Elizabeth, as a middle name! We call her Addie, her name is pronounced Addi-yana and is Celtic meaning beautiful one. She's gorgeous!

Dave continues his daily struggle with this fucking disease. Eating seems to be the big thing he's going through right now. Our dining out days are probably about at their end. He really enjoys going out to dinner, but it is so stressful for me. He does the wackiest things when we're in a restaurant, I swear! Last Thursday we went to Yolanda's - his favorite - and when they brought his soup, it was apparently invisible, because he couldn't see it on the table. When his food came, 2 tacos, beans and rice, he picked up his spoon and started stirring it together. Tacos were flying everywhere! When I asked him why he was doing that, he told me "the soup is hot, I'm trying to cool it down". Then the food kept falling off his fork and landing in his lap. If it weren't so sad, it would probably be funny.

His sleep pattern has changed, also. He used to always get up with me at 5:30, make the coffee while I showered, and then we'd watch the news together. He's sleeping until 8:30 or 9:00 now, so I miss the morning routine. I guess in the grand scheme of things, that's not so bad. He had a visit with his General Practioner last week. Dr. Paulus is no longer his doc, and his new doc is a lady named Dr. Barker. He told her he's never had a lady doctor before, and she told him he'll enjoy his prostate exams much more now. I like that she has a sense of humor. As Dave has trouble with changes, I asked her if she was planning to stick around for awhile, and she assured me she wasn't going anywhere. She spent quite a bit of time with us, asked lots of questions so she could get to know Dave. She was surprised that he's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's because of his age. I told her of how many people in my support group have husbands in their 50's and 60's who've been diagnosed. My friend Lynne's husband Ian is only 51!!!

We have a nuerology appointment next Thursday in the Valley, and I'm going to talk to Dr. Strahman about the anit-depressant and Namenda he's taking. I'd like to maybe get him off both of these if it's at all possible. I really struggle with the amount of meds he takes. I get the ones he takes for health issues (his heart, blood pressure and cholesterol) but these other 2 don't make sense to me. He seems over-medicated to me most of the time, and I really think it's the anti-depressant. He has Alzheimer's at age 64 for Chrissakes! Who wouldn't be depressed? I'll let you know what happens with that. His confussion has really escalated in the past several months, and it's frustrating for him. He can't remember what day, month or year it is, and last week Jimmy Carter was President. Holy Crap!

Well, that's about all the time I have for blogging today. Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see ya all in the blogosphere! I wish you all love, health and happiness!