How did I do?

Where do I begin?

Dr's appointment went well.  Got some questions answered, some were rather vague.

Dr put husband through a battery of memory tests and questions.  He actually did OK on some, others, he failed.  He did not know what day of the week it was, what the date was, but, knew it was summer.

A short list of what Dr did to husband:

Asked him to subtract 7 from 100.  He said, "15".

Asked him to fold a piece of paper that was on his leg in half and give it to me.  He could not.

Asked him to draw a clock with numbers and hands and make the time to say ten after eleven.  He could not.

Asked him to copy a picture of boxes.  He could not.

Asked him to stand up from his wheelchair, hands folded, without assistance.  He could not.

There were questions he did answer correctly.  Dr was pleased with that.

As far as his EEG that was done in May.  It came out normal.  I was confused.  Dr explained that the motor control part of the brain is slowly damaging everything in it's path.  The damage so far is at below the waist.  He told me that when his brain sends a signal to his legs, it stops at the spinal cord, therefore, causing involuntarily muscle jerks.  In layman's terms, it short circuits in the legs, causing seizure like activity.

He said he was not surprised at his decline, said that it is the progression of this disease, nothing we can do about it.

He spoke to me alone.  I asked him, "how much longer,"  thinking I would get a straight forward answer.  He looked at me, shook his head and said, "I don't know.  1 year, 2 years, not much more than that.  His type of Alzheimer's is rapid, but, it all depends on how fast the brain will die.  His brain is dying off and shrinking.  For some, it takes longer.  With the family history, if he lives to see 48-49, then he would've outlived the others in his family."

Good ole Dr A.  He doesn't mince words.  That's what I like about him.

He did add another med for husband to take.  It's called Namenda.  Said it might help with memory.  Wants me to call him in 4 weeks to see how he is doing.  He said it's not a cure all, but, may help with his confusion.

He wants to see him again in December.  Said with his recent decline, he wants to now start with more visits, because of the severity of this decline.

I left feeling OK with the visit, wanted more questions answered, didn't get that, but, husband was in a good mood about it all.

Every time we leave Dr A's office, husband thinks he did great.  "I did great, didn't I?"  he says.  As I'm driving out of the parking lot, I glance at him and just nod my head and smile.

No tears this time for me, so, I guess "I did great too", huh?