Well we arrived in India after an 8 hour flight, the Country of my husband`s birth.
On our way through the airport and on to the hotel, he repeatedly commented on the fact it was just like India, and was amazed so many people spoke perfect Hindi.
Poor man, he didn`t know where he was.
During the 10 days we were away, he was in a constant state of anxiety. He didn`t understand what we had done with our house, had we sold it, were others living in it, were we homeless? He wondered if the hotel was our new home, and how much the rent was.
He loved the trips, the sightseeing, the countryside and slowly began to get his bearings. This was due to the wonderful group of people we were with who helped him, absolutely spontaneously and unselfishly, on uneven ground, up and down steep steps and steered him in the right direction when he became confused and lost. It was sad that, even at the end of the holiday, he was unable to identify or recognize a single one of them.
I had a lovely time. The 24 hour caring was no different to the 24 hour caring at home, but I had the benefits of no housework, no cooking or cleaning and a level of social interaction I had not enjoyed for ages.
It has taken him a week to get over the jet lag, [me too] .
Even so, he believes we had a wonderful holiday and all he can talk about now is where we should go for the next one. He wanted to phone a friend, to tell him all about it, but can`t. He knows his friend will ask where we went and what we saw and did, and he won`t be able to tell him. He asked me to write down some names of places we visited, but still didn`t have the confidence to talk about them.
On the one hand, I feel we should go as often as possible, to get him out of the doldrums, into different stimulating environments. On the other hand, the stimulation causes confusion and insecurity. It`s a Catch 22 situation.
On our way through the airport and on to the hotel, he repeatedly commented on the fact it was just like India, and was amazed so many people spoke perfect Hindi.
Poor man, he didn`t know where he was.
During the 10 days we were away, he was in a constant state of anxiety. He didn`t understand what we had done with our house, had we sold it, were others living in it, were we homeless? He wondered if the hotel was our new home, and how much the rent was.
He loved the trips, the sightseeing, the countryside and slowly began to get his bearings. This was due to the wonderful group of people we were with who helped him, absolutely spontaneously and unselfishly, on uneven ground, up and down steep steps and steered him in the right direction when he became confused and lost. It was sad that, even at the end of the holiday, he was unable to identify or recognize a single one of them.
I had a lovely time. The 24 hour caring was no different to the 24 hour caring at home, but I had the benefits of no housework, no cooking or cleaning and a level of social interaction I had not enjoyed for ages.
It has taken him a week to get over the jet lag, [me too] .
Even so, he believes we had a wonderful holiday and all he can talk about now is where we should go for the next one. He wanted to phone a friend, to tell him all about it, but can`t. He knows his friend will ask where we went and what we saw and did, and he won`t be able to tell him. He asked me to write down some names of places we visited, but still didn`t have the confidence to talk about them.
On the one hand, I feel we should go as often as possible, to get him out of the doldrums, into different stimulating environments. On the other hand, the stimulation causes confusion and insecurity. It`s a Catch 22 situation.
