Ch.45 Two Rons
“Ron, was that Lewy Body doing this to me?” Pat asked this question about 8 p.m. yesterday; it was a very good question and the answer was “Yes, that was Lewy Body.”
All day Pat had insisted there were two Rons in her life, the one in front of her and another Ron who was very similar but a little different in ways she couldn’t quite describe (my guess is that maybe he was a tad nicer or maybe a better listener). She didn’t claim I was an imposter so this wasn’t a case of Capgras Syndrome – that would be really scary. She also said the two Rons switched places from time to time.
We had an appointment that day with Gina, our financial advisor. Pat mentioned the two Rons to Gina who looked a little surprised but smiled. Gina knows Pat has Lewy Body and so was somewhat prepared for this conversation. Also, Gina likes Pat a lot and values Pat’s creativity. I was grateful we could carry on our meeting without disruption or discomfort.
This wasn’t the first time Pat had insisted there are two Rons in her life. At first, I was scared, dismayed, even a little angry. “Hey, there’s only one of me,” I tried to insist. That didn’t work. Pat knew there were two Rons and that was that. By now I’m getting more comfortable with the idea. It helps that I’m an identical twin. In my youth Don and I didn’t have first names; we were always “the twins” so having a double seems natural.
However, this was the first time both Rons were present for an entire day. Only that evening did Pat ask the question above; it was as if she was gradually coming out of a mental fog and she could finally see reality. She reassured me (and, I think, herself) that there certainly was only one Ron and he was right there with her in the room.
So much now for the two Rons. However, there is a bigger, scarier question implied in this scenario: How quickly is Pat’s Lewy Body dementia progressing? It can’t be a good sign that her hallucinations are lasting longer than before. Also, Pat’s been saying that she feels mixed up in her head more than previously. On the other hand, I’m not consistently seeing other problematic indicators and I do see some positive developments. Pat has been doing more around the house, singing a lot, drawing and sewing, preparing for Christmas appropriately, etc.
Pat’s Lewy Body symptoms unpredictably fluctuate from almost nonexistent to dominating our lives, sometimes in the same day.
Pat’s comments on Two Rons
When I finally asked you “Ron, have you been here every night with me?” and you said “yes” then I knew that you are Ron and there is no other Ron even if you act differently.
When there are two Rons I can tell the difference because one listens to me more carefully and is polite and sometimes he says “Yes, honey, it’s been me the whole time.”