CAREGIVING: I read an amusing definition of love today. It was on the internet Huntington’s Disease caregivers support group I belong to. And it seems to apply to many people trying to take care of irritable loved ones.
Love is when you are willing to give your life…..
to save the life…
of someone you want to kill.
It doesn’t really apply to us any more but part of Huntington’s and other forms of dementia can be mood and behavior changes. I talked about it before. But my thoughts are with my friends that are going through rough times.
Valentines Day came and went this year. I wished Kathy a happy Valentines when I tried to wake her up on Friday. I used to get her roses and make a card but this year I skipped and shovelled snow. Valentines Day always blended into my birthday February 17th anyway. Kathy and I usually celebrated both days at once by going out to eat. Kathy has been more interested in remembering my birthday and has asked a few times today when my birthday is. I keep reminding her it is tomorrow. It’s sweet that she remembers. She has been wanting pizza for a while so I’ll probably get a take out from the Hampden House Restaurant tomorrow. They make a pretty good eggplant pizza. I’m hoping she will let me pick it up without her going out into the ice. That would be a birthday present for both of us.
The other bittersweet thing that falls the day before my birthday is the anniversary of my dad’s death on February 16th. As I’m writing this blog I’m realizing that it was around that time (1998) that Kathy started having anger issues. When my dad’s health started failing we made lot’s of trips to Fitchburg, MA where they lived. It started to be too much for Kathy but she didn’t want to be left alone, either. In the end it was all I could do to visit him the night before he passed. She started getting more and more unreasonable about all kinds of stuff. The thought that her anger might be related to Huntington’s never really crossed my mind until several years later. I’m glad that is over.