I had a dream last night that seemed like it could be made into a depressing movie.  In fact, it seems pretty likely that a movie with a similar plot exists, and even possible that I've seen it and forgotten.  But anyway...

The dream centered on an elderly woman who was taking care of her husband with Alzheimer's as best she could.  She helped him remember peoples' names, assisted him with medication, took him out to do things, and the like.  She struggled to pay the expenses, but managed to get by.  She was the only thing keeping him out of a nursing home.  Their kids continually tried to get them to accept help, but she wanted the two of them to live by themselves, and her persistent care made that possible, she felt.  Her husband was less convinced, and agreed with their children.

One evening she had gone to a performance hall of some sort to see a show, and her husband was being more stubborn than usual.  He kept telling her that they shouldn't be there, and that he wanted to go home.  The woman was becoming increasingly agitated by this and yelled at her husband to stop making a scene.  A couple minutes later, the woman had a seizure.

When she came to, the people in the dream changed.  Her husband wasn't her husband at all; it was her son, helping her up.  They hadn't been seeing a performance; she had been at home alone, and her children were there, trying to move her to a facility where she could receive care around the clock.  She was very confused, and angrily asked for her husband, and her children kept telling her that he wasn't there, and hadn't been for a long time.  She hadn't been caring for her husband, or even herself—her children had been taking care of her, but didn't comprehend what was happening due to her own senility, and in her imagination, she had still been in control.  That's the depressing twist.  I woke up shortly after that revelation.

Labels: dreams