It's been a few days since I've written. We've been at our youngest daughter, Katie's, house since Friday. It's been nice to get away a little, a new venue, yet somewhat familiar in Jerry's mind. Jerry feels comfortable here and relates well with our son-in-law. For several weeks, now, Jerry has been in decline. I think this new stage has begun to take hold. It's been pretty clear that Jerry needs more help now. He's even having difficulty walking his dear doggie, Montana. I've been leaving the leash on Montana, so that he doesn't have to try to click it on and off of her. So, now, all he has to do is pick up the leash and start walking. Only, now, he doesn't walk very far. In fact, he walks around on the deck. Poor dog.
I know Jerry is quite aware of his new stage. Which makes it really difficult on him. Yesterday morning, we sat and had our coffee and he said, "I ........feel like I'm .....dead." All I could do is look into his watery eyes, rub his hand and say, "I'm sorry." After a few seconds, I got up, fixed his cereal and tried to lighten things up. Get things going again, so to speak. Then, Katie, Jerry and I delivered some artwork to a little shop nearby. Jerry loves to help with that. He feels like he's contributing.
As the day progressed, our son-in-law wanted to show us his new space for his dental office. He's a pediatric dentist and is all excited about starting his practice. It really brought a smile to Jerry's face as we were escorted through the maze of pretend stations that he had taped off on the floor. I could see Jerry's eyes light up as he saw the business plan beginning to take shape. We got a glimmer of the old Jerry.
Once, back home, Jerry reverted back to the "comotose" stage and sat with the dog on the deck. We're seeing a lot more of that these days. BUT, last night.......well, last night was great! We were watching something really stupid on TV, The Bachlorette, and things got really silly. So, our son-in-law, grabbed a red rubber ball and started tossing it to Jerry. Jerry came alive! His reflexes were right on! There they were, tossing the ball back and forth and laughing. It made us all laugh. How cool was that!
Hmmmm. maybe that's it! I need to add "playing toss" to my "to do" list. Either that, or move in with my son-in-law. Hmmm, maybe that would be a NOT!