Kelley Irwin

One day this week (Feb 2024), I told Dad the interviews were rescheduled for tomorrow. This allowed him to focus on the conversation at hand.

Dad had a rough time last week. He wasn’t himself, or should I say he wasn’t acting like his ‘recent self’. He was lethargic and uninterested in eating or talking or walking. He talked to me a lot with eyes closed, barely voiced an opinion, and said “okay” to anything we talked about. And so we started to worry that we had hit a new low point in his progressive decline.

We are 15 months post the formal medical diagnosis of dementia.

This week, he has rallied. I don’t know if it’s for a few days or a few weeks, but I am happy for every minute the twinkle is in his eyes, the plans are in his head, and he is sharing them with me. Dad was planning interviews to hire new staff this week, meetings for the project work that is falling behind, cooking a big brunch for the family, a trip to Canada 🇨🇦, a list of home chores for my husband to handle, a shopping list for a few new shirts. He also mentioned flying a plane ✈️, getting a haircut, and going to the eye doctor.

All of this was discussed within one hour jumping back and forth across the topics. None of these plans are actually happening. Most of them are real events at other points in his life. The exception is the plane…unless he hid that from all of us!

I am equally exhausted from these conversations and thrilled that his mind is busy and happy. He has always been a planner with a list and a purpose.

I finally said I think we should take a break and told him I needed a good picture to show the kids. He stopped the stories, put on his best smile, and then asked if he did okay.

Yes, Dad. You were perfect.