Altered perception

[LynneMcV]

My husband woke up today and for the first time had trouble co-ordinating body movements.

It began with him struggling to shave, he said everything was 'back to front and that when he wanted his hand to go one direction it was going the other.

At first I thought it might be the looking in the mirror to shave that was confusing him, however his feeling of things being back to front, or a little askew have continued. In particular he seemed to be having trouble understanding what his feet should be doing when looking a them - though he moves quite ok when not concentrating / looking at his feet.

He has also tried explaining how things around him look different, but I am not sure in what way exactly as he often struggles to find the right words. It's basically that nothing quite looks right, whether his feet or the walls, doors, furniture. Fortunately the floor still looks ok to him (I think it has helped that over the past couple of years I have tried to bring all the floor coverings into something plain and continuous, having read at the start of his diagnoses that different floor coverings can cause confusion when moving room to room).

In himself he is quite happy and thoroughly enjoying his day.

I suppose I am just wondering if this is another one of those things that comes and goes - or if this altered perception of things around him (and part of him) is likely to stay now that he has reached this stage.

 

[NanLorac]

Lynne, my husband had trouble reversing up the drive and this stopped him driving early on. Next thing was him shaving he could not get the blade at the right angle and was shaving into his beard my mistake, so I took over 2 years ago. He goes to sit on the table instead of the chair. He is doing the same now with the toilet, he can see it so he stands at the side of the toilet looking at it and starts to bend his legs as if he is going to sit down. I have had to sit him on the toilet for 2 months now.

He looks at the slippers on the floor and crosses his right foot to go into the left slipper. One day I asked him why he crosses his foot to put it in the other slipper and he said "because I'm is a cross dresser". I need eyes in the back of my head

 

[LynneMcV]

.....One day I asked him why he crosses his foot to put it in the other slipper and he said "because I'm is a cross dresser". I need eyes in the back of my head

Haha, that made me laugh - it's great when these moments of humour turn up to take the sting out of the situation!

Thank you for sharing about what is happening with your husband. I can identify with the loo situation - over the last couple of weeks my husband has been confused on and off about how to line himself up to sit down on the toilet.

I have also noticed him being a bit reticent about sitting down at the day centre he attends - the last two weeks he has had to have extra coaxing to turn his back to the chair and sit down, he seems a bit unsure about how to position himself, though he does manage to do so eventually.

I had been putting it all down to him being overly tired, but maybe it is linked to what started happening to him today.

I'll keep an eye on things when it comes to the 'reversing' department - fortunately he has never driven, so I don't have that unpopular decision waiting on the horizon - but it's good to be aware of how other aspects of day to day life can be affected.

He usually comes shopping with me on a Saturday and pushes the trolley around the supermarket and through the car park to the car, but I convinced him to stay at home in the warm today instead. I had been worried that everything might overwhelm him or that he would be unable to steer the trolley properly.

I worried that I might have been over-reacting, but after what you have said about your husband not being able to reverse up the drive, I think that maybe I made the right call for now.

Thank you again for giving me some pointers to be aware of xx

 

[NanLorac]

No problem. I had to give up on the trolley pushing too after he pushed it right into a lady and he didn't move, the lady moved out of his way. He won't hold onto the trolley and can get lost easily, so I'm thinking of getting a basic shop delivered every couple of weeks and pick up the fresh food when he is at one of his groups.
Carol x