We’re  in another cycle of Jim being resentful because I’m correcting him and dissuading him from doing what he wants. Sadly, we’re also at the stage where little of what he wants to do is safe, or even makes much sense)

His frustration definitely seems to come and go in waves. This time was triggered by a phone appointment with the Geriatric Assessment doctor.

We talk to him every 4 months and Jim hates the questions the standard mini cognitive test. Especially the one he has never been able to get right. The doctor asks him to remember three words (Ball, Car, Man) then tells him to remember them even though he’s going to ask him something else and then go back to those three words. Jim just can’t do it.

He groused all that evening and most of the next day about the unfairness of that question. He insisted the doctor needed to understand that his brain just doesn’t work that way.

He used to have a dozen project managers report to him. He knows he should be able to remember things despite distractions. That used to be his job and he excelled at it.

I think this is when Jim realizes all is not good with his mind and he’s trying to rebel against the idea of his decline and then attempts to cover it up with bluster so I don’t notice.

This is when the wave of resentment typically begins. When he’s desperate to reassert to me (and to himself) that he’s fine. He feels like I’m babying him or that I think I’m better than him. It’s an uncomfortable situation.