A cry for help

Dear Internet:

I am becoming concerned about my husband, and I hope you can help. I have searched the web for a diagnosis, and better, for a cure, but so far I have come up empty. Therefore, I appeal to you, my ever-so-small group of readers, to give me your advice on this problem.

For several months--wait, I think it has been 2 years now--my husband has been exhibiting symtpoms. Unfortunately, there appears to be something wrong with his arm, and it has begun affecting other areas of his behavior.

Let me explain. Our children have a clothes hamper in their room, which has a top. When one is putting dirty clothes into the hamper, one must remove the top first, deposit the dirty clothes, then replace the top. However, and this is what has me so concerned, my husband seems unable to do this. His arm does not function in this way. No matter what, the dirty clothes always end up on top of the hamper top. He is unable to take the top off first.

I keep waiting for improvement--surely, his arm will get the hang of this hamper thing eventually!--but no dice. And so I worry.

Then, just the other day, I realized he has been exhibiting another symptom for years now. When he is rinsing dirty dishes, his arm is unable to open the dishwasher door. So that, similar to the dirty laundry, the (now rinsed) dirty dishes remain on top of the dishwasher, instead of inside it.

What should I do? I have searched WebMD and other medical sites to no avail.

Recently, another symptom, seemingly unrelated, his reared its ugly head. It seems that in addition to the faulty arm, my husband also lacks hearing skills. For example, perhaps I am nursing the baby while simaltaneously conversing with my husband. Isaac begins the wail that breaks glass in the other room. My husband does not react. He continues talking as though the wailing is not happening. Then, when I say something along the lines of, "Could you please go see what the hell is going on in there?" he acts surprised, as if he has heard nothing.

Please, any advice will be appreciated. Thank you.



(Aside: am I the only one having issues with Blogger lately? It has taken me two days to get this post published. And all those fabulous posts that were percolating in my brain have had nowhere to go, and now are lost forever. Sigh.)