New Phase? Hope it's a short one.

Dad seems to be in a new phase. It started 2 days ago. No matter what is going on, he yells every 2 minutes or less. Every 10 seconds. Every 5 seconds. Sometimes he yells words, like, he wants to eat, he wants Mike, he wants his mother. But sometimes he just yells like he's in pain, despair, or something. And if you say his name, he suddenly opens his eyes and looks right at you like, "yes?" And if you ask him anything, like, "Dad could you stop yelling?" he just nods his head and says, "m hm." If I ask him if he wants another CD he gives me the same response.

At first we thought it was because he refused his sleep aid one night, since it's also an anti-anxiety med. Then we thought he was missing his Namenda, because we had run out and were waiting for the rx to be filled. But he's been on track for all of his meds since Thursday night and if anything he is getting worse with the yelling. I'm going to ask the daycare if he yells like this there because when he came home yesterday afternoon he was soooooo quiet, until it was time for dinner.

Maybe he's bored? But he yells at table too, even if he's got food in his mouth. He yells while we're trying to do something with him, or ignoring him. And we just can't do things to entertain him all day, not when we're all busy trying to disassembling his old bed and rearranging his room so there's more space for everyone to maneuver, as well as shuttle the kids to their rehearsal, mow the grass, swap out winter clothes for summer, and mop and disinfect the floor after he has a huge accident while ON the toilet. It's just been a barrel of monkeys today.

For the last two hours I've been the only one in the house. Everyone else is outside. Before that some of us hid upstairs, others used hearing protectors, someone vacuumed the basement with the shop vac and hearing protectors, someone went to support book club, and someone just stayed in their own head. Mike thinks he's enjoying himself, and the sound of his own voice. Because when he's not yelling he doesn't look distressed, and when you talk to him and he looks at you, he doesn't look distressed. When the kids ask why Akong yells so much he says Akong can't help it, it's like his caps key is stuck.

Dad's neuro NP told us a story about a woman our age who was sole caregiver to her mother, a woman in late stage Alzheimer's who lay in bed all day and screamed non- stop. They finally had to take her to the ER to see what could be done to calm that behavior. This morning I asked which would be worse, what we've got now, or if Dad was a woman and screamed instead. Yeah, we both agreed the screaming would be worse. But in the old days Dad hardly ever raised his voice. It's amazing how much resonance he has. And if the last yelp was minutes ago, the next one makes everyone jump.

If this is a phase, we really hope it's a short one. And we're calling the NP first thing Monday morning.