Kelley Irwin

#one day I understood that while Dad often had trouble with directions, “often” did not mean always.

When a loved one has dementia and they start experiencing issues, it’s easy to think the particular skill is gone for good. It’s important to understand the symptoms may be sporadic and not true in all cases.

I was driving Dad to a physical therapy appointment. He had been there before, but I had not. I put the directions in the GPS and off we went. It went like this…

Me: We’re all set. We should be there in about 15 minutes.
Dad: Okay, I don’t want to be late.
We chatted as I drove and I was following the directions.
Dad: You need to turn in here. (As he pointed to a parking lot on the left.)
Me: Oh Dad, I think it’s just up here on the right.

As I drive, the GPS spins, does not recalibrate, and abandons me. I have no idea where the facility is so I turn around to check out Dad’s suggestion. The parking he mentioned indeed leads to a small building you can’t see from the road and is his physical therapy building.

His session goes well. We both know the way home and we enjoy our time together. When we get back, Mom asks how we did. Dad was thrilled to regale her with the story that I didn’t believe he knew where to go and he did know all along. He told the tale with a big smile and a wink in my direction. I readily agreed with his detailed account.

I learned along the way with Dad to pay attention to all his comments. It’s confusing to understand when his thoughts are based in reality. I didn’t know at first. How could I?

(picture of me and Dad in my kitchen)