Sundowning

Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile

Virgil

Daddy has started falling asleep a lot during the day. His body is exhausted; it is obvious that it is preparing for "The Big Sleep".

This is referred to as "sundowning", and it is common in Alzheimer's patients. This page from the Alzheimer's Association explains it clearly and concisely: Sundowning

It is so distressing to see him sleep in his chair for hours on end, his body slumped into contortions. When we wake him up, he responds for a moment, but literally falls right back to sleep. When Mom persists in waking him, he gets quite cantankerous with her. Last night he was downright nasty when she tried to get him to go to bed early.

He is still waking up quite a bit during the night, generally 2-3 times every night. Of course Mom wakes up with him, and frequently has to go downstairs to get him back to bed. He tends to be very disoriented during these midnight wanderings, but he is also generally quite compliant about returning to bed. Knowing that these things are symptomatic of the disease doesn't make it any easier to cope with. Some days the sadness of it all is enough to break your heart into a million shards of glass.