Speaking First With Anger and Fear Instead of Love

Besides our difficulties getting started this morning (click here if you haven't read my earlier post) Gregory had a few other disconnects today. I parked in the lot of Office Depot and told him to wait in the car and opened the window. I had something waiting for me at the register and knew it would only take a few minutes.

While I was paying, I looked up and saw Gregory waiting for me by the front of the store. He signaled across the registers to let me know he was there. I got upset because he not only didn't stay in the car, but left it open, walked across the parking lot into the store, and waited to find me there. I was terrified that the situation I thought in hand was not under control at all. I was overwhelmed by all of the things that could have happened go him.

Maybe I should have just been grateful that he was there and I saw him waiting but like the parent who spanks her child for playing in the street and almost getting hit by a car instead of hugging him and telling him you are so happy he is safe and well, I got angry and balled him out.

After grocery shopping, we arrived home in the parking garage. There were four heavy shopping bags, two for each of us to take up one flight of stairs to our condo. I took two bags out of the trunk and asked Gregory to get the other two.

He first tried to pick up both by holding one handle from each of the heavy bags. I told him to wait, put my bags down on the ground, and separated the bags still in the trunk hoping it would make how to hold them more obvious for him.

He took one bag and held it to his chest and then didn't know what to do with the other. By now, given the day and the previous disconnects, I knew that it would be easier for me to do the work rather than try to explain or instruct him how to carry two shopping bags by the handles each swinging in a different hand.

I was able to be somewhat kind and not vent my full anger and frustration or worse yet give in to my rage, although my emotions were pumping. After my second trip schlepping the groceries from the parking garage to the condo, I made his coffee, unloaded the groceries, made a cup of coffee for me, and attended to some work waiting for me on my computer. I was, however, somewhat distant and silent, which also sends a message to Gregory.

A short while later, I invited him into the computer room to watch a few TED presentations which are always moving. Afterwards he came back into the computer room and carefully began to apologize for his earlier behavior. I was able to help after asking if he was trying to apologize or was angry with me over my behavior.

I sat him down, took his hand, and said, "I appreciate your apology but I have to apologize to you as well. I know that you did not do anything on purpose today, you did not try to make me angry. We both know that at times your brain plays tricks on you through no fault of your own." At this point he began to cry. I squeezed his and and told him that I loved him.

I continued, speaking very slowly, "What happens in these situations is that I speak first out of anger and fear when I should be speaking out of love. I am working so hard at speaking out of love only but I am not too good at it yet." And I began to cry.

I think Gregory understood what I was trying to say. I reinforced that I love him no matter what, that I am here for him, that nothing that happened today was his fault, and that by now I am over it and not at all angry or frightened anymore. He reaffirmed his love and gratitutde for me.

He felt much better and so did I.

I'm Good, I'm Good, I'm Good

After reading my BLOG of a few days ago on having to support Gregory in the morning, our niece Colleen replied: "Have you ever tried telling yourself you are good in the morning?  Maybe try it just one morning each week.   Sorry it's been a tough couple of weeks.  We love you."

Click to see BLOG in a new window.

Knowing that she was correct and that by telling myself I am "bad," I bring more "bad" on myself, I wrote back, "Good suggestion. From BAD to I AM GOOD IN THE MORNINGS! Will let you know the results. Tough couple of weeks but not too BAD. OOPS. Tough couple of weeks that were almost GOOD. Love ya too."

When he woke up this morning, I told myself "I am good" and offered Gregory a very simple, "Sleep or Up?" I discovered, however, a new level of Gregory's difficulties getting started in the morning. It dawned on me that he opens his eyes and then doesn't know comes next.

Even that simple "Up or Sleep" didn't work this time. He fumbled with the cover, hemmed and hawed, sat up, lay down. As you can imagine I was frustrated because that meant the end of my sleep but the realization of his state of being was even more frustrating and sad.

I asked myself, "I thought you were good?" I guess I was better, not disrespectful, just banged around a little, didn't say anything negative ... but still felt BAD. I wasn't bad, I felt badly.

Wonder where tomorrow will take us with engines running.

P.S. Learned something interesting for this blog: 

Firstly, there is no such word as 'layed'. It doesn't exist.

Secondly, the confusion comes between the verbs 'lie' and 'lay' and their tenses.

'To lie' (not 'tell a fib') means to lie down: "Lie down on the bed if you're tired."

'To lay' means to set something down: "Lay the parcels on the bed, please."

Now, the confusion:

The past tense of 'lie' is 'lay': "I lay on the bed when I was tired."

The past tense of 'lay' is 'laid': "I laid the parcels on the bed."

That's why neither of your sentences are correct (especially 'layed', which doesn't exist). 

The correct word is:

I LAY DOWN in the middle of the road. (This refers to the one-time action of lying 

down.)

or

I LAY in the middle of the road for two hours. (Refers to an extended period of time.)

ALSO: One does not feel BAD, one feels BADLY.

A Tough One

This is going to be a tough one to write. My life is dramatically changing. Even as we speak I do not know for sure how to proceed. I do have alternatives available to me but all of them involve difficult choices.

Mexico was difficult for both Gregory and me. Gregory because he was disoriented most of the time. Me because I was "on duty" 24/7. Simple things like getting dressed or undressed caused him difficulties. My support often caused more confusion on his part. Did I hear you say HELPLESS? Yes, both of us. He helpless with what to do next. Me helpless with how to help.

While I am not ready to admit it, I think that Mexico might have been our last major trip. I fantasize about Europe (Paris, Italy, The Netherlands, England, Scotland.) I dream about a driving trip through the eastern U.S. to see the sights and to visit family and friends. A river cruse down one of the many great rivers of the world could be exciting. We watch Rick Steves and other travel programs and imagine. But I am not yet ready to admit that these might only be fantasies.

Gregory's re-entry after Mexico has been very slow. Re-entry you would think should be easier since it is back at home and routine and the familiar. But for some reason it usually is worse than when we were away. This time it is taking longer and many of the previous cognitive and self-help skills have not returned.

About a week or so ago, I felt like my life as I know it had changed. Gregory went to return the condo grocery cart to the lobby after we had brought the groceries to our unit. He has been doing this for the last five years since we moved in. Somehow this time he ended up on the 9th floor and didn't think to call me for help. He religiously carries his cell phone but I begin to suspect that he doesn't know how to use to make an outgoing call. He didn't know how to get back on the elevator to go to the lobby. I suspect that he got on the elevator on our floor and by the time he figured out which button to push, the elevator recording began "yelling" at him to select a floor and then the elevator just took off to someone else who was calling for it. He got off when it next stopped.

I called him after I thought he had been gone too long, found out where he was and went to fetch him. I gently asked if he could tell me what happened and of course he couldn't. I didn't press it but I cannot explain the weight I felt on my proverbial shoulders. I felt like our life would never be the same. Yes I can take the cart back but that was one of the last shreds of assistance he was able to give me. And the fact that he "got lost" in the building freaked me. Since then I have been afraid to let him and he hasn't asked to go on his usual long walks. He doesn't go swimming anymore. He sits and stares more and more. He "shadows" me when I am working around the unit or at my computer. He gets bored because he doesn't have anything to do but on the other hand, he can't do much.

I guess I will begin to go on walks with him now that the weather is nice and will take him swimming. But that means my life is on hold. I have begun the process of trying to find him a "companion" who can relieve me some of the time but that takes advance planning, scheduling, money, trusting another person, etc. It is a necessary thing to do but one that I am not ready for!

Since his getting lost, things seemed to be running a little smoother. I was able to get away for an hour to go to my Weight Watchers meeting last week. This week it didn't work. He wanted to sleep in. I made sure he knew where I was going and that I would be back in an hour or so. I left at 9:00 and when I got back at 10:15 or so he was still in bed. He asked, "Why have you been gone so long?" I asked "Why are you still in bed?" He replied, "I was afraid."

I had assumed that he would get up when ready and begin his breakfast. He usually starts off with a piece of toast or a muffin. I left his "placemat aide" (which pictures his breakfast choices) out for Tuesday breakfast. The assumptions I can make continue to be fewer and fewer and change from day to day.

So how can I go to my WW meetings? How can I go to Michael's Museum for a morning? How will I ever be able to be in an Opera again? How can I leave him in bed "being afraid?" I guess I am waiting for the aftershock of these changes to settle down so I can begin to investigate what options are available to me/us. Hopefully I will find the companion to be here but honestly, I am not ready for that level of his being dependent on me. What choice do I have?