Visiting a Gentleman with Alzheimer’s Disease

[uppityperson]

This is a very well written tribute by a friend of mine about his father, insights and really good advice about dealing with someone who has dementia. It strikes home as my father died a couple months ago of dementia.

Happy father's day to those who are gone or traveling this awful road.

https://medium.com/@boerm/visiting-a-gentleman-with-alzheimer-s-disease-5f032bea8100

My father has been living in residential care facilities since December 2014. I saw him on six consecutive days during the first week of June 2015.

The best guess is he has Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), and it is “the late stage.” I have resisted that diagnosis, perhaps because I carry genetic markers that give me a higher than average risk for this costly killer. Or perhaps I cringe at the stigma of dementia, whatever the symptoms or cause.

Whether AD will be my father’s final mortal diagnosis or not: He can’t take care of himself anymore, nor can my mother, nor my family, without constant assistance.....

[NCarolinawoman]

1. thanks for posting this.

My father had anesthesia induced dementia, which is what Coach Dean Smith had. It puts a lot of people in assisted living. He went into the hospital for kidney stones, with a good mind; had surgery and came out confused and with Parkinson's disease. Went on a decline and didn't seem to know where he was at times--sometimes he thought he was in Germany where he had gone on a tour a few years before. Sometimes he would say, "I don't know where I am" and want to go out the door and look for his home. He finally had to go to assisted living because we couldn't lift him when he fell, which seemed to be all the time. We put a framed picture of his cat in his room and I would test him, and ask him who was in the picture and he'd say "Buzz" and look at me as if to say "why are you asking?" Made me feel stupid.

He came home to us from assisted living on Christmas day --I took him back that night. He sounded so very lucid and normal. We commented on the Christmas lights on display. I said "you always liked the blue lights the most". He said, "I still do", with a gentle smile. He could hardly get out of the car because of the Parkinson's. A few days later he was dead from a heart attack. We visited him all the time. Four of his five grown kids live in the area, but we weren't there with him when he died!

We were blessed, tho, cause he still knew who we were.