We had hoped that Dad would be all better today but it only took a short few seconds to realize that he was still hallucinating. He was way back in the late 50’s early 60’s….talking about the boat and his dad. If you listened carefully you soon realized it was the smaller yellow boat and not one of his two commercial fishing boats. Mid-kid collects his stories and finds these times of hallucinations informing, because it gives insight into people as he knew them. He said at some point this morning that Wilbur, his brother, could be smart when he wanted to be. This brother was the second of the three boys and my understanding is that he was the one that knew how to “get by” and was his mother’s favorite. I know I once took a chewing out by her for something that he did….and her reply to me was Wilbur wouldn’t do that! It wasn’t the only time in my life when I have been called a liar for telling the truth...but it was probably the first.
Anyway, Dad took a good long nap this afternoon and when he got up he seemed a good deal better…he still needed help to transfer from the bed to the chair but his mind did seem clear…. We are hoping that we have about gotten through this bout of confusion. We will know better when we go out to help him to bed. I am afraid because he spent so much time in bed this afternoon he will not want to go to bed until mid-night…but we will start agitating long before that. One thing you cannot do with the elderly is hurry them. It is impossible for them to move faster or to brush their teeth quickly, etc. They do the best that they can and those of us that are more able must understand and wait patiently.