Monday, February 16, 2009

Papa, It's Cold Out There!

Morning Feb 16/09:
Papa is napping in his chair and suddenly gets up intent to go somewhere. I am sitting nearby and inquire, "Where are you going."

He replies, "I don't know."

"If you don't know where you are going then perhaps you shouldn't go." I said.

He continued on to the front door determined to go 'somewhere'. It was locked and he struggled a bit to open it, eventually succeeding. I watched in silence as he proceeded out the door, without a coat, being sure he would promptly return due to the below freezing temperature.

Stan came upon this scene and saw him maneuvering down the stairs and around the front corner of the house. "What's going on?" he asked.

I filled him in saying, "He'll be right back as soon as the cold sinks in." I was unconcerned, and very wrong.

Stan dashed out the door and found him standing by the car, apparently waiting to get in and go somewhere.

Stories of people wandering off, confused, bewildered, and completely oblivious to the weather conditions, are not uncommon. How quickly this can happen. How easy for someone to slip away undetected and disappear.

I would not have left him long had he not returned, but even then, would I have known if he wandered down the street or to the back of the house, and if I went one way and he was the other, how long till he would have been rescued? Yet another wake up call for me. We must be ever vigilant, present, and proactive.

1 comment:

  1. This happens a lot. The result usually being heard on the news. What I wonder is what is going on in the mind of a person with Alzheimer's that causes them to do what they do.

    ReplyDelete