Nothing stays the same

On the page in this blog giving suggestions on how to make travelling easier the fist tip I give is not to go anywhere for fewer than four nights.  That was written in April and this weekend shows 1) how far we've come since then and 2) how, when dealing with dementia, you need to recognise that nothing stays the same.  The last time we went away for a short break it took Ash three days to relax and work out where we were.  I wrote about that and also remembered all the other times we'd been away for less than a week and he'd woken in the night not knowing where he was or woken in the morning worrying about what we were going to do for the day so I was a little apprehensive about visiting friends for the weekend.  Four months on from our last short break and we've had a lovely trip.  It's a long time since I've seen Ash so relaxed and I kept commenting on it but it wasn't until this morning when I discovered that I'd forgotten to give him his anxiety tablet yesterday that I realised how truly amazing it was.   The last time that happened I had to peel him from the ceiling, this time I just mentioned how happy he was.  Once again a lot of planning went into this visit and that, combined with the atmosphere and lack of pressure from those around him, made the difference.  Oh and the fact that he also managed to fix a chainsaw while we were there definitely added to his feeling of well-being.  I will no longer be afraid of short breaks (at least not until everything changes all over again) but just remember the planning and activities that helped to make this one a success.

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