Dad has stopped eating shrimp because he says they remind him of curled-up babies. Mom offered him sardines instead, but he says they look like corpses stacked up in a concentration camp. The past couple of days he has eaten only a forkful or two of four of the brain foods, so he also has to take vitamins and supplements in pill form. But then, once in a while, he gets a craving for nuts.
Linda is gloating. Yesterday she ramped up the aromatherapy by going from one candle to two, each the size of a drinking glass. Then a girl at school who normally doesn’t talk to me asked, “Bob, why are you wearing insect repellent in the winter?” When I asked Mom if we could stop using the candles some of the time, she said no. But are they doing any good? Is Mom backing Linda up only to make Linda feel she’s contributing something?
Dad was awake the past two nights and very agitated. Mom stays up as long as she can but sometimes asks me to take over at two or three a.m. so she can nap. I walk Dad around the house, sometimes saying affirmations at the same time. I no longer can be sure if anything’s helping, but I don’t know if I should say anything to Mom. Maybe it would make more sense to continue as we are for a few more days, just in case the situation breaks. When Dad started on meds, the doctor said the chemicals had to build up in his system. Maybe it’s the same with the food, the light, and the other cures.