Famous Faces Of Alzheimers

[Sam]

http://www.alzheimersreadingroom.com/2014/10/famous-faces-of-alzheimers-moving-video.html

[J Francho]

Yep, my grandmother passed away from dementia a few years ago.

[Lund Explorer]

Yup, I can totally relate.

[Oregon Native]

Dad passed from dementia....it's sad....so sad.  But in some ways they don't seem to know!?

[Sam]

My mother and mother-in-law both had the disease and it was difficult to watch two strong women deteriorate like they did.

 

We are all susceptible to getting dementia.

 

Hopefully science will find a cure sooner or later.

 

In the meantime be sure to eat a handful of almonds each day.

[Oregon Native]

Good green tea is good too along with more book reading than tv watching...followed by exercise.

[Fishing Rhino]

Dad passed from dementia....it's sad....so sad.  But in some ways they don't seem to know!?

 

My opinion on Alzheimer's runs counter to the mainstream.

 

My dad had early stage Alzheimer's which necessitated him being admitted to a nursing home.  My step mother had become incapacitated a couple of years ago which required her to become a resident in a nursing home. 

 

When she was at home, she and my dad worked as a team.  He'd do the work around the house, cooking, cleaning etc., and she kept him on schedule with his meds.

 

Without her at home, he did not take his meds as he should have.  His health deteriorated as a consequence, and he was admitted to a nursing home, sharing a room with his wife.

 

My dad never got to the stage where he did not recognize people, nor did he "live" in another time or place.  But, he could not tell you what he had for breakfast an hour later.  What bothered him the most was his loss of independence.

 

He could hold coherent conversations, and realized he had Alzheimer's.  But, it did have this upside.  He was always a hard worker, and he'd read the help wanted sections of the newspapers diligently.  His comment was that there had to be something he could do, even at 90 years of age.

 

He also talked about fixing up his travel trailer and taking a trip somewhere.  It was never going to happen, but having that something to look forward to certainly helped to keep him going, and to make life more than just bearable.

 

When he talked to me about such things, I played along.  He held that "dream" until he passed away in his sleep at nearly 91 years old.

 

His personality never changed, which made it easier on his family and friends.

 

When my time comes, I'd much prefer to go the way he did, rather than to be of sound mind with a body that is little more than a vegetable.  I cannot imagine what it must be like to live with the reality of that day after day, just waiting to die.

[Lund Explorer]

Tom, I happy to hear that your Dad and the family didn't have to go through all of the stages of Alzheimer's/Dementia.  I'm not sure if you meant to say "opinion" as compared to say "experience", but suffice it to say, you wouldn't want to be going through what we have been with my mother.

 

Mom is in the final stages of life.  Several months ago, her doctor advised that it was time for Hospice to come into the picture as she is having increasingly more medical issues. COPD, Dementia (most likely a side effect of the COPD), Low blood proteins, and a slew of other things that just seem to be piling up on her.  Two weeks ago she suffered a fall in the house, and when we couldn't get in contact with her Hospice nurse, we had to take her into the local ER.  She had a severe cut on her leg that needed attention.  Little did I realize that the shock of that trip would send her into this final stage.

 

I'm not really sure if I didn't make my first mistake in her care when we decided to keep her in her own home when Jackie and I moved in with her three years ago.  At the time, she didn't want to leave her home, and I felt that she deserved to live her life where she had spent the previous 61 years.   It wasn't like we couldn't afford to move her into either an assisted living or nursing home, it was just one choice to give back to someone who had given me so much.  So, instead of her moving out, we moved in.  It hasn't been easy and we've needed to hire in-home care for some things that a mother is never going to let a son do like showers, dressing, or toiletries.  Even at this point, I still supposedly don't know that she is completely incontinent. 

 

One of the things I learned too late is that as the disease progresses, change becomes that much harder.  Any little change seems to throw her into the next stage.  In May of 2012 she caught pneumonia and was hospitalized.  She suffered a full blown panic attack in the ICU and by the time we got her home, she lost the ability of recognizing time.  Imagine Jackie's surprise when she would get home from work to be told that I would be home from school fairly soon.  A year ago we had to get her a new bed, and that little change knocked out her knowledge of where she was living.  The first snowfall of 2013 led her to comment that the snow never lasted very long.  In Norfolk, Virginia where my parents lived during the Korean War!  A semi-sick sense of humor got me to mention that we had saved a ton on airfare!

 

This last episode has put her into the final stage of life.  She has quit eating on her own and will only eat or drink small amounts when she is prodded into it.  From my discussions with the doctor and the Hospice nurse, Mom probably isn't going to be with us by Thanksgiving.

 

The only saving grace is that she somehow still knows who we all are.  Like I said, experience has given me a different opinion.

[Fishing Rhino]

Keeping her home did make it much more difficult on you.  My dad was in GA, 1200 miles away from us, so I did not have to deal with it on a daily basis. 

 

We did keep my wife's mother in her home for as long as possible.  She was in her nineties.  I installed a handicap access ramp so she could get outside without having to negotiate steps.  I also installed a ramp in her kitchen so she would not have to deal with the step from the kitchen to the hallway which led to her bedroom, bathroom and the living room.

 

She was very unstable and used a walker.  One night she tried to get to the bathroom and the walker caught a living room chair and down she went. 

 

She had one of those "help, I've fallen and I can't get up, but she landed in such a way that she could not press the button.  She had the type that is like a wristwatch.  Marcia's older daughter found her lying on the living room floor.  She had whacked her head on the door frame and bled quite a bit.

 

After that, I installed motion detector lights around the house.  When she'd get out of bed, a light would go on.  There was another in the living room on her way to the bathroom, and in the hallway.  Wherever she went a light would turn on.

 

Her last fall was in the bathroom, and again, she could not reach the button on her life alert device.  To make it worse, she fell against the door which opens inward, and could not move.

 

The hinge pins were on the inside so I had to cut a panel out of the door in order to pull the hinge pins.  She was able to reach a towel by the sink, so I told her to place that over her head and face.

 

The paramedics arrived just as I was removing the door.

 

She had hurt her shoulder, and was admitted to a rehab facility.   It was then that it became obvious that she could no longer live alone. 

 

Her three daughters had taken care of getting her daily meals on a rotating basis, as well as cleaning the house.  She was an old Yankee and wanted to stay in her house until she died.  But that had become impossible.

 

After six months in the facility she passed away. 

[llPa1nll]

My Dad was diadgnosed with the disease about 18 months ago. He has his good days and bad days. He is still very much functional, still drives (only locally). However I can see the troubles he has at expressing himself, finding the words he is looking for happens frequently. I find myself finnishing his thoughts when he is struggling to find the words. I can't mutlitask like I normally would around him when we are talking. I have to give him my complete attention to sift through mispokken words and to understand his thoughts. I am not looking forward to the path we are heading down.

[Mr_Scrogg]

If you haven't heard, there is new "therapy" for Alzheimer's patients.

www.musicandmemory.com

Story of Henry - Music & Memory iPod Project - Al…: