My husband is still in the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease and is quite forgetful of names. Should I encourage him to remember by giving clues or is this a waste of energy which will end up annoying him? I want to know if something is beyond his ability and should be left alone or if it could be helpful to push for memories.
You can say when you met someone out or they visit "John its Harry Jones coming to visit". It will take a while to process.
I went to Church one Sunday and spoke to a man I had known practically all my life. As always he took my hand and said "hi Peggy". I did not correct him because at least he got the right family. I look like my Mom and she had passed by this time. He was in his late 90s at the time and is now 101.
One way to address this is to have people reintroduce themselves every time they meet him. “Hi Joe, I'm John your friend”, or “Hi dad, I'm Mary, your daughter”. If he asks who you are, or what your name is, merely state “I'm Jane your wife”. Don't prefix you're statement with, “don't you remember, I'm your wife”. No, he doesn't remember. Not remembering names and relationships is very difficult for the family to understand. How can someone who I've been married to for so many years, forget who I am? Well, they do. That, along with so many other unexplainable symptoms, is part of the AD journey.
Getting hourly rates for in home care differs from agency to agency. You might call your local Area Agency on Aging to start with. They may be able to give you some average costs to get you started.
I wish you well with this very hard learning situation. I hope there are other replies that can help with this.
Although I can't see any harm in providing easier alternative ways to deal with challenges like names. Eg calling everyone Dear, Mate or Buddy.
I image dementia as some of the lights inside the brain flickering or turned off. Asking to try to keep the lights on won't be within his power. So I personally wouldn't try to encourage better memory.
When my DH wants to complain about how I could stack a plate better in the dishwasher rather than the 5 loads of washing I just hung out, another little crack appears in my heart which hardens towards him. It would be much nicer to be thanked for what I did do.