Monday! Monday!

 Today we had our appointment with neurologist Dr. Novreen Shahdad and she was wonderful as was her nurse, Shona! We actually enjoyed our visit and were relaxed and laughed and had a good time.

I am so grateful they were both such charming and caring people as Louis Dean was a bit anxious this morning before we left. It didn't help that there was no parking out on the regular lot so I parked in the garage adjacent to the medical building - which was fine. I pulled right in and got a spot within eyesight of the entrance! Our problem was finding the elevator to the office building. And then finding the floor to get off. We tried them all and could NOT figure out how to go. It finally dawned on me that the skybridge on floor #2 was what hooked the two together so once I realized that - we were walking across it - and were heading toward the hospital - NOT the medical building. We turned and walked back the way we came - and that's when I saw the DOOR that led to where we needed to go to get to where the doctor was. We were a little discombobulated but we arrived and not but a few minutes late.

Shonda was such a delight as she questioned us and did a few simple memory tests for Louis Dean and got the gist of why we were there. One of the things she gave him to do was to read a sentence she wrote....and then write a sentence of his own underneath it.

She cracked up laughing when she read it.......

Do not go to the doctor.

We all laughed and visited and it was not scary at all.

She said, "I've been here six years and that's the very BEST sentence I've read!!"

Then the doctor came in to see us and she was so kind and friendly, Louis Dean was right at ease during the entire appointment! She questioned him and then she questioned me. She laughed at some of the 'incidents' I reported - like the time he surprised me by washing all the bedclothes and making up the bed - but I couldn't find the duvet cover for over a week and he had no idea where he put it! I finally spotted it on TOP of the outside table umbrella where he had draped it so the sun could dry it! By that time the birds had pooped on it and we washed it again but that time I put it in the dryer!

Basically we play scavenger hunts every day.

 Then she talked about what she thought we should do. First of all, he does have some memory issues and he scored 22 out of 30 on the tests Shona gave him. This merits some further testing in her opinion and we are now scheduled for a MRI on Wednesday and then we will make an appointment with a neuropsychologist where he will have some more in depth memory testing.

She thinks this dementia is in the early stages and she said this is so good because there may be some things that will help. If we had waited too long, there's less they can do.

Dr. Shahdad point blank asked Louis Dean if he was willing to do these things and he said yes.

That's a good thing because he was insisting he didn't need to go this morning and that he was not going to keep seeing another doctor. I can understand his frustration since he already has three :primary care, cardiologist and eye doctor.

So all in all - a win! WIN!!!

When we were leaving, Shona thanked us for being a blessing to her this morning.

I thanked HER for being a blessing to us.

You know what?

 In writing all this, I just realized that we did not go to the lab for the blood work the doctor ordered.

Guess we will go back up tomorrow!

Louis Dean is 6 feet tall and weighs 207 pounds.

I try to feed him healthy food and since he is diabetic - controlled by diet and exercise - I don't keep sweets around that much.

One of the things that has changed for us since we have addressed the dementia is the finances.

Normally Louis Dean would give me a check every month for the household bills.

If I needed more, he would give me another check and a few times he has had to sell stock to get the additional funds. Then he started losing the bank book and couldn't find his checks and other little things happened so I am now in charge of the finances. I have always been the one to pay the bills but I am now feeling the extra responsibility to stay within our budget. As a matter of fact - I need to make a new one and then I need to keep it.

We have a full pantry, two freezers and fridge so we should not need to buy many groceries.

I don't even like to shop for them anyway and Saturday Louis Dean went to the store with a list of maybe a dozen things and he came home with so much more.

TWO boxes of pancake mix - we already had two.

TWO bottles of pancake syrup - we already had THREE.

A bottle of soy sauce - we already had two.

TWO loaves of bread - so I froze them as we already had one.

You get the idea.

I had tomatoes on the list and he bought a dozen!

You know the life span of fresh tomatoes?

Right now I am on a quest of using what we have and making do.

I don't like to waste food so I am cooking up what needs to be cooked and keep us eating healthy meals.

Another thing I am doing is wearing clothes I haven't worn in awhile.

The other day I pulled out a soft chambray dress - which made me look like a sack and was not comfortable enough to sleep in.

It went in the bag to send up to Bar-J Ranch.

I'm determined to be a good steward of the finances we have available to us and tithe plus extra on every dollar that comes our way.

I have always tithed and I have always trusted God to provide for me and he has never failed.

I thank you all for the prayers prayed over me and my family as we have grieved the loss of Nita.

It's been the biggest loss of my life.

I 'borrowed' this photo from Facebook of both of Nita's children and all four of her grandchildren.

I need to print this one and frame it.

I'll close tonight's journal entry with a funny poster a friend had on her Facebook page.....

Louis Dean is already in bed and I am about to settle in at the art table and work on my last Christmas painting. It's been cloudy and rainy the last couple of days but as soon as the sun comes out - I will be ready to take pictures of the canvases so I can order my Christmas cards and canvas prints.

I am taking more fall down every day and hope to be finished and it all packed away by Friday.