A timeline

Burt had a sudden downturn starting in October. Although I have documented Burt’s decline, I am still unsure of the actual events.

His decline has been incremental and gradual. It has also come on suddenly, precipitously and unexpectedly.

In October, things like confusion and hallucinations seemed more noticeable.

Soon thereafter, one of his aides and I shared our observations.

Early in November, I decided to go ahead with his birthday party; my rationale was that a surprise and seeing people would do him good.

The birthday surprise neither pleased nor distressed him. My normally sociable Burt did not engage with his guests. His 84th was, by contrast, a real treat for him.

Of course, there have been other dips, like the one that had me cancel our anniversary party last year. Over the last few months, as he’s declined, we’ve also had some ups.

The Sunday after we celebrated Burt, we took our last outing. He got out of bed just a few times after that. His walk was unsteady, and in some ways, having him bedbound relieved my concern that he would fall.

Yesterday, he got up to sit in his chair. That was an event. In fact, it was so much of an event that he was up chatting until midnight.

Today, he slept til I woke him at nearly 1pm. Tonight, Burt is interspersing conversation with me and another with a song. I don’t think I have ever heard him sing.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings. There will be challenges and joys. I’ll accept the wisdom offered by our weekend aide, who quoted the twelve steps, “One day at a time.”