For those following his journey, we stumbled across something that is helping…

Sleep…

I thought for a while he had sundowner’s and after the last few months, Homer has let his guard down and instead of me playing 20 questions, hoping I get 1 answer… He started answering my questions and confirmed my suspcions…

Homer’s auto accident at 18 left him with a broken neck and he is very lucky he can walk and breathe without assistance… The subsequent injuries and complications would spiral into alcohol use to numb the pain and help him sleep at night and that went on tilll….

Yep, he met me…

We married in 94 and by 2001, Homer no longer drank and by 2008, he also didn’t smoke cig’s anymore and neither did I….

By the time he had his silent heart attack in 2002, life was changing for Homer and he had to take medications for once in his life…

Since 2002, he was told he had aggressive Rheumatoid Arthritis and he had a silent heart attack and he had to have a triple bypass in 2015, then he’s in heart failure, then it’s nodes in his lungs and you name it… IT took up residence….

Now we are in 2025 and I know he has dementia and I get neurologist involved and tests prove I was right… He has some deposits on the brain and brain shrinkage… by the fall of last year, we were struggling to get him any rest of any kind… So the neurologist played with a few meds and sleep was happening, but it wasn’t restful and that’s when I started pushing for answers with Homer…

About a month ago, I messaged neuro and told them Homer doesn’t have sundowner’s, he is dealing with pain at night and that is what is keeping him from getting restorative rest, to help reduce inflamation…

Well, neuro put him on a med and after a few weeks…

Homer took it upon himself to contact the neuro and had them fill the med for long term use… He knew he was getting sleep and he knew it was making a difference with his dementia…

We are early on in this process, with the sleep… We started in Sept of 2025 and now… Homer is only getting up once at night and his bed isn’t torn apart… His body is resting…

Studies show, you can’t stop the disease, once it starts, but you can slow it’s progression…

I have known since 2002, that Homer may have dementia… it took 23 years for science to catch up with my early diagnosis…

I have found that the neurology department and cardiology listen to me and hear me and it is so nice to know… They have my back…

Homer is doing better, not great, but better… He still will do things without thinking them through or he forgets to close the freezer door in the garage, which now has a sign on it, to be sure, it’s not forgotten again…

Little things, like me following behind him and really just trying to keep every day the same as the last, becasue if I throw a wrench into the day, it starts off the chaos that takes time to leave him… So I do watch for those triggers that neuro talked about…

I find I am taking on more and more responsibility with the house, the property, the vehicles, dogs and some how I squeeze me in the picture for a little me time… like now…

I have hope… Homer will stay at this stage and not progress any further… Diet, exercise and mental health are all priority issues in this house and it will stay that way, as long as he is aware…

I remember…

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