At a time

Finishing off my A-Z blogging journey with a post about sleep.

Catching enough Zzzz’s has become a priority more recently. I did blog about matrimonial sleep wars not long ago. But these days, this lofty thing called a good night’s sleep has become a mighty challenge and more unattainable. Mostly because of this little guy:

Cody will be turning 17 in October. By all accounts, he is the best sleeper in the house. This is where he sleeps nowadays. It’s in our family room, he takes up the most real estate on our sectional as we barricade him here so he doesn’t wander. Lest he does all the things that blind, deaf, senior dogs with dementia might be inclined to do in the middle of the night. Since we got all new hardwood floors in earlier this year, this has been a cause for concern. Cody has always been a big sleeper, but now he sleeps the majority of the day – and wakes at night. It’s classic sundowner syndrome in dementia patients (humans, too) and Cody has had it for quite a while now. It is hard for him to settle in the evening, and despite medications and trying to course correct his behaviour by keeping him up more in the day, it’s hit or miss.

So when he wakes up, someone has to take him out, right? Hubby and I are taking turns sleeping on the couch downstairs with Cody. We negotiate, based on who has the busier the next day and could use a better night’s sleep. I know, it’s insanity. Whenever I stay with him, he usually only wakes up a couple of times – with my better half, he’s been up as many as 6 times. I’ve experienced that with Cody, and it’s brutal. Reminds me of those early days of parenthood, when I would get up to nurse my kids – but even then I would usually get at least 2 hours in between feedings (my babies were pretty good). This once-an-hour thing is pretty awful at 3 or 4 AM. Our kids grew out of it; Cody will not.

This is me this morning after 4.5 hours sleep:

I do all the things – Magnesium check; Loop earplugs check; Sleep eye mask check. And I was having a good sleep. But it’s a delicate balance as I still have to be at the ready. Apparently we have yet to strike the right balance – the beast got out of the gate of cushions, got past the rug and peed on the floor, and then made his way over to my part of the couch and dropped a poop nugget on the rug right where I could have stepped on it. All before I woke up to his footsteps on the wood at 5:30 AM. Ugh.

We’ve been grappling with a decision, a really hard one, for the last few months. It’s difficult enough when you have issues with sleep, and I certainly have had them since menopause. But compounding the lack of sleep is a real impact on our daily lives (we can’t even leave him alone in the house for more than an hour or so tops). We can barely go out to shop for groceries let alone think about actually getting out – together even- which is what people our age ie empty nesters, should be doing. Doing things as a couple is only possible if our daughter is home. We’ve taken him to my siblings’ lately but had to hold him most of the time. His quality of life is also questionable, he eats really well but we need to bring him to his food, and remind him to drink. And when he’s awake, he’s usually confused and wanders about. Another ugh.

Anyway, another topic for another day.

Since I am able to watch TV while on the sectional, last night I caught a new show on Apple TV (new to me anyway, it looks like it was made a couple of years ago). It’s pretty cute. Too bad it only lasted one season.

Well, off to the rest of the weekend – hope you have a good one and manage to get some sleep in time!