degression
Degression
I want to talk today about something very important about our life with Matt. For Matt due to his disabilities degression can be apart of it also add in his seizure activities and you can have a whole lot of degression.
Matt is not like many 29 year old's he doesn't get a chance to get a job, have friend's or even a love relationship, he in fact doesn't get to go out on his own, feed himself invite people over, or even bath himself. He needs help with all of it. He didn't always need as much help but the older her gets the more he seems to need help. It used to come and go but now it is more often that he needs full time help.
As Matt was in the shower I had the water on and step by step I had to tell him what to do, I had to tell him to turn around, to go into the water, to put his back in the water, to face his back to me so I could scrub it for him, to face his front to me so I could scrub it him, to go under the water to wet his head so I could wash his hair and to go back in to wash all the soap off of him. it isn't just the shower that I have noticed this happening, getting dressed, cleaning his room, making his bed, brushing his teeth or other regular normal activities.
There has always been times he has forgotten and it is always like a roller coaster ride and retraining to get him back to where we want him but I have noticed that it seems he is degressing even more and more often. Even his eating we have to monitor more often, we have to watch him while he brushes his teeth or he brushes them till he bleeds, he will wear the same cloths for days even if they are smelly and dirty until reminded to change. He will forget to wash his face and even forget to put a proper coat on in the winter time.
At this point he needs to be monitored all the time. There used to be a time where we didn't have to watch him so intently he had a little bit of independence but that is getting less and less.
Its hard watching your child loose so much and continue to loose more as they get older, its hard to watch him not be able to do the things he used to be able to do and to remember to do with out help.
Its a difficult thing to live with watching your child get older mentally before your eyes and you not be able to do anything about it, my son is 29 years old and in some ways mentally is way younger and in other ways he is much older. It is difficult to go through but I am so grateful we have him here to go through this with.
Cherish every moment
<3 Joan
