I really hope he listens! You can’t imagine the difference this will make for all of you.
Yes, there probably is a part of him that doesn’t want to admit that her mind is gone.
And for those who have repetition as part of their problem, I’m sure that does get tedious. We didn’t have too much of that in any of our parents, but to the extent we did, we found that going along with something (acknowledging it) made it less likely the parent would keep repeating it.
One thing we also tried with the instances we did have of repetition was asking questions. We would give Mom the chance to talk about the point in more detail, pay more attention to it. I guess it was kind of like helping her know that we did hear her and she did get to “get it out of her system,” so to speak.
Sometimes the stories are like pent-up pressure on the brain. Once the person is able to get them out in a way that they feel they have been heard and affirmed, the need to say them or continue on with them goes away.
Of course, there is a sort of mind loss where the person just repeats no matter what. In that case, I’d say do whatever it takes to keep you, the listener, from getting stressed. “Yes, dear,” “uh-huh,” or maybe even something with a little humor that makes you chuckle — I used to say occasionally something like, “Well, you don’t say!” This isn’t making fun of the person, it is keeping you sane and engaging them where they are at.
Thank you, that is very helpful. I’m going to try that & talk with my dad about it. It’s very hard on him, he’s trying to take care of her and he can hardly take care of himself. I’m going to the doctor with them this week to see if they can get some kind of home health care. He just can’t handle it anymore, and I can’t be there all of the time.