Is anyone experiencing there DH trying to write whether it be a phone number or a word, they can't do it.I am noticing more and more my husband cannot write the simpliest words like yellow or elephant and when writing a phone number he is mxing numbers and letters together
FTD, My husband has not been able to write anything for the last year. Last summer he could write his name, however, it would take several attempts & looked nothing like his handwriting had in the past. He doesn't know his phone number.
My DH is in very early stages. Still working and not interested in finding out what is going on. Of course, there is nothing wrong with him. So...with that said...yes, I am actually seeing this. simple words are have a letter repeated, or a letter missing. Or a word is written and I don't recognize it and he knows exactly what it is. He is a better speller than I am so when I see simple words misspelled, it is cause for concern. I copy his time slip information from a tablet to the time slip every weekend for him. He asks me to be sure to ask questions if I can't read something or it doesn't make sense. Then, when I ask a question, he isn't happy about it. I think he is may be confused and doesn't want to answer.
One of the most obvious changes in my husband's writing these days is when I ask him for his signature on something. It used to be soooooo precise, always exactly the same, even the same size. It is gradually becoming wobbly-looking, kind of wandering around, the letters are different sizes, and it's obvious he's having trouble getting the pen to go where he wants it. I had been trying to coax him into writing his memoirs, since he's done some fascinating stuff. I thought he wasn't working on that because he has so little initiative, but maybe it's because he's having trouble writing.
My husband can write his name and copy the day and date from the newspaper. He hasn't been able to write down a phone message since before he was diagnosed 15 months ago. Back then, he could write from dictation, and on very rare occasions write a sentence on his own. In fact that was one of the tasks asked of him when we were getting him diagnosed and he could not do it.
If I need him to sign something, I need to ask him to "sign, don't print."
I have had to sign my husband's cards to his kids for a couple of years now. He can still sign his name but the writing is getting smaller all the time and he can't stay on a line anymore.
I noticed about a year ago that my husband could no longer spell and would leave words out. His writing is very shaky. Lately I have noticed he does not write at all if he can avoid it.
I've been 'interviewing' DH for the last 5 years, questioning about EVERYTHING that I didn't know. I finished writing his memoirs and they are the editor now. They will be ready for distribution to our famly by Christmas. He's very happy with them. I've read them to him several times as I was working on them. He says they remind him of things he'd forgotten. Perhaps that might work for someone else.
Mawzy My daughter and I did the same think with my Mom and she wrote it up complete with pictures and everyone love it. We distributed it to family at her funeral and my daughters read from it as an Eulogy at her funeral. I have been doing the same for my husband and myself. I would love to read what you have written of your husbands bio and I could send you Mom's if you would ike to read it. Just write me at lmohr@casinternet.net.
My wife had the most beautiful handwriting (mine was so bad that I was embarrassed to have to sign a legal document requiring both of our signatures). Now, 4-5 years into the disease, she can no longer write anything.
iggy, My husband also had very nice handwriting (always received compliments) It really bothered him at first when his handwriting didn't look as it had in the past. Now he could care less.
Mawzy and Imohr, I wrote "Our Journey Together" starting with our births, through our courtship, engagement, marriage, children, travels, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, including photographs of us under age one, our engagement and wedding pictures; our sons' weddings; and a picture of us on each of the last twelve vacations we took. My husband loved reading it, and now he will still look at it, but I think it is mostly the pictures, even though we have huge scrapbooks from our trips as well which he looks at daily. The journal is 100 pages long (we did a lot in 46 years!) and I had it bound as a book for our children and grandchildren for Christmas last year. They loved it! All of our friends said that they were thinking about making one as well. I included a separate photo section in the back of our grandparents and parents so our grandchildren and great-grandchildren would have photos of them as well. I'm so glad I did it when I did it, so that he could hold those memories longer.
My husband can still sign his name when I ask him to do so, but that is all. He tried to write a letter almost a year ago and made an envelope out of a piece of typing paper and Scotch tape with mumbled names and our street address (no numbers) and put it in the mailbox! The postperson did not take it and I got it when I got home. Two of my children and I tried to decipher what it said, but we couldn't figure it out AT ALL. He never tried again. We never mentioned it to him, and he never brought it up.
It is so sad watching this intelligent man deteriorate day by day.
I noticed my hubby's handwriting isn't the same either. I mentioned it to him a while back and after dwelling on my question for about 2 hours he said it was because he was standing up while he signed his name and it just isn't easy to do. He is left handed (very dominately so) and now seems to use his right hand more than his left. His left arm is always close to his side and appears rather useless. No signs of stroke tho so don't know the cause. He refuses to go to see a doctor about it...."it is just from inactivity". Bull-oney! Anyhow thats his story and he's sticking to it.
what stages are your husbands in when you notice the change in writing or reading? My husband acts like he is reading a book and it is upside down and I just won't say anything to him about it. He also tried to take down a phone message/ phone number and I couldn't make out anything that was written. DO you think we should try asking them to write a certain thing down every so often to compare ?
My husband hasn't written anything except his name in over a year. He was doing his name fairly good but today I had him sign an application for an absentee voting ballot and you can't read it. He is going to vote at home this year. I thought I would too but you have to have a "valaid " reason to do so, so I will go in on one of the early days to vote.
Mary, I would like to see your memoirs if you have them on your computer. I have my Mom's finished but my husband's and mine are still in the works. I basically am doing ours separately highlighting our childhoods. lmohr@casinternet.net
FTD, it is only recently that I noticed my husband's handwriting was starting to change ... he is stage 5 with a hint of stage 6 from time to time. I know he can still read pretty well -- when he watches the news on CNN, he usually reads the ticker-tape at the bottom rather than paying attention to the newscaster.