February 19, 2023

This week a big thing happened. We sold John's comic book collection. 'We' means my niece and her fiance. They were AMAZING! After much work sorting and organizing (4 long days) and researching (visiting shops, talking to owners, researching online, participating at a comic book convention, stuff like that) they found a buyer and sold the entire collection to him! All the books are modern, and they're not in demand. I remember John saying that his collection wasn't worth anything - he sold the valuable ones before I met him and used them as a down payment for a house. The ones he had now weren't old and therefore weren't worth a lot. But there were A LOT of comic books and the money we received will be used for John's care. He's not aware the boxes (60 of them!) are gone, but I'm certainly happy they're gone! They filled almost half a bedroom. We did find a few boxes that were filled with comic books that were still in the shopping bags he brought them home in. He bought them, but never took them out of the bags. I assume those are among the last issues that he purchased. Danielle and I visited a few more care facilities a few days ago. I'm not ready for that yet, but I know that EasterSeals will say, in the not too distant future, that John is no longer appropriate for their program. When that day comes, I need to be ready to make fast decisions and preparations. We agree on the places we like best, but the cost is mind boggling. Crappy places are expensive ($6k per month), and nice places are extremely expensive ($11k per moonth). Of course we have no idea how long we will need these places, so it's difficult to budget the total costs involved. It's like buying a house where you know the monthly payment but you have no idea how long you'll need to make that payment. The money involved is horrifying. In other news, he's continued to be agitated. Today he asked me "Where's your husband? Can I talk to him?" I've also noticed more comments he's making to the man in the mirror. Recently he's been fairly obsessed with his baseball caps. They're in a bin and he keeps pulling them out, spreading them around the room, trying them on and moving them around. I'm not sure about this, but I think John only uses my name and his brother's. He also talks about going home (the home of his childhood I think) and says he wants to talk to his mom and dad. When he sees the moon he often comments that his dad went to the moon. His dad worked on the space program at Rockwell, so that's the connection. It's such a strange disease. Weird twists and turns, unique to each person. We never know what each day will be like as we watch behaviors come and go. But sometimes he laughs and his eyes sparkle in the way they used to...