As Dementia progresses, consistency goes out of the window. It’s hard not to get frustrated.

Some days, our discussions stick, Jim gets irritated with me when I repeat directions because this time, he remembered the first time.  Other days, I feel like a broken record.

Today, Jim had a good morning. He seemed sharp and didn’t have difficulty with his routine.

At lunch, we discussed what we were going to have for supper. I told him I’d taken some pork out of the freezer to that and for him not to take the meat out of the bag as I’d put marinade inside. He acknowledged my statement. Repeated my request in a question of his own and because the marinade was clearly visible within the bag, I figured he would ask me before he did anything else with the meat.

An hour later, the marinade coated meat was out of the bag and on the rack to finish thawing – despite me being very clear to leave it in the bag and his repetition of the instruction. When questioned, he remembered that I wanted the meat in the bag, so once it thawed, he was planning to put it back in (yeah – ewww).

I know he’s just trying to protect his feeling of usefulness in our household but it’s hard not to become frustrated, especially since he’d come to me three times within that same hour asking me about other things.

So now instead of expecting good days and Dementia-Jim days, I have to adjust to expect Dementia-Jim to come out to play at any moment and therefore increase my diligence in monitoring his actions.