Been seeing the below copied text pop up on Facebook several times lately. You really have no idea until you go through it. At first, you think nothing of it because everyone asks the same question twice sometimes. Then, you think they might be faking it for attention or for laughs. When the person starts getting lost while driving or the same question gets asked 5 times in a row in 5 minutes, you know something is wrong. You try to tell yourself it will get better, but it doesn’t. The regression and memory gaps continue to get worse until one day they don’t recognize you or remember your name. They lose the ability to have even the most basic conversation or take care of simple bodily functions. Hygiene becomes a huge struggle. You will clean up excrement in strange places. Then, one day, getting them out of bed is no longer possible. When they stop eating and drinking, the end is close.
Alzheimer’s and Dementia are terminal illnesses which qualify you for hospice care covered under Medicare. Involve them as early as you possibly can. They can’t do everything, but what they can do will feel like a Godsend.
“It’s called the long goodbye. Rapidly shrinking brain is how a doctor described it. As the patient's brain slowly dies, they change physically and eventually forget who their loved ones are and become less themselves. Patients can eventually become bedridden, unable to move & unable to eat or drink or talk to their loved ones. There will be people who will scroll by this message because Dementia or Alzheimer's has not touched them. They may not know what it's like to have a loved one who has fought or is fighting a battle against Dementia or Alzheimer's.
In an effort to raise awareness of this cruel disease, I would love to see this on your timeline, too.
”To clarify, the top two paragraphs are mine responding to the bottom paragraph in quotation marks which I have been seeing pop up on FB.
My mother succumbed to a combination of diabetes and dementia. Some researchers characterize dementia as a third form of diabetes as the processes are quite nearly identical and the chemical makeup of excessive sugars are present. As a retired nurse I went back and took care of my mother for over two years during her decline and death, and my fathers four months later of a diagnosed brain tumor, Glioblastoma Multiforma. I took care of them in their home. I would do it again, it was an honor to be there and care for them in their waning days. It helped immensely having the skills and education to care properly and ability to wade through medical and legal issues that invariably cropped up. What helped as I had POA over medical and financial matters as I was teh Executor of their wills and Trustee of the Family Trust. I would do it again. Take care of your parents, they are an finite resource and love.
ReplyDeleteCederq, bless you for doing the right thing. We took care of my inlaws in our home until my mother in law died. My brother in law and his wife didn't lift a finger beyond trying to pressure us into putting them "into a home" which no one had the money to afford. Due to circumstances beyond our control, my father in law now lives with my brother in law much to his chagrin. I've been trying to get my father to tell me anything about his wishes since I am the executor of his estate, but I can barely get him to communicate with me on a superficial level much less something of this importance. My sister and I have a pretty good understanding of how we will handle mom when the time comes.
DeleteI took care of my girlfriend for the last two years of her life. She never got to the true end stage, where she forgot people and couldn't get out of bed, but she wasn't far from it when she died. Her condition was better in some ways and worse in others, because she had a rare variant that took her vision along with her memory, as well as the use of her dominant hand.
ReplyDeleteI'd do it all again if I had to, but that's unlikely.
Wheels, you went above and beyond. Good for you!
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