My uncle, the smartest one of that generation of our family, traveled to nearly every state park in the western U.S. He would park his car by the ranger station, say he would be back in two weeks, and go into the forests with his back pack.
His world gradually focused down to a nursing home bed. After weeks of immobility, within seconds of his death, he sat up, eyes closed, with a smile on his face. I said at his wake that on the other side of that point his existence was widening out again, that he was hiking celestial trails. I hope so, and who’s to say for sure not?
I was an OT that tried to move along changes in memory units in several facilities. I specialized in cognition in dementia and matching needs with individual programs. The facilities primary goal was the promotion of order and placidity. They were not willing to make any changes that required increased staffing ratios . They were happy to work on fall prevention and safe seating. The staffing and care is given to minimally capable and poorly educated staff who tend to infantalize and control. Our elder care model is medical and maintenance. Unfortunately the costs of individual care are really high in all areas.
It’s good for the patients is debatable, but I think in a lot cases it’s better than the care they would receive under other circumstances. I know for sure it’s good for the family because everyone I have met who took care of a spouse or parent with Alzheimer’s (or severe dementia) at home ended up suffering from several things from this list: 1] psychologically ill with anxiety or depression based disorders, 2] ulcers; 3] high blood pressure; 4] in many cases back injuries trying to lift the person (especially when caretaker is also older); 5] in many cases injured from the person striking out at them during a particularly bad disorientation moment (broken arm, broken nose, black eye, bitten so hard that surgery was required to fix the damage are just some of the injuries I have been told about.); 6] unable to maintain their employment (then financial devastation); 7] Stress from caretaking for a parent destroying their marital relationship; 8] in one case depression got so bad a suicide attempt….I could go and on. I was in a support group for a while for families of people with Alzheimer’s…the stories were heartbreaking. It made me grateful I had resources to afford a memory care facility for my Dad. Caring for the Alzheimer’s victim is important. But I have learned it just as important to make sure the loved ones of the victim are not destroyed by Alzheimer’s like the patient.
We hide away that which disturbs us that we may be spared full consciousness of it all. Thing is, (1) I’m 77, and (2) as a career social worker I’ve been through them all – state hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, ‘assisted living’ homes, group homes, locked psychiatric nursing facilities, hospices, jails, state facilities for the ‘criminally insane’ – the list goes on.
For the last three years of her life, my mother couldn’t remember the names of any of her children.
But she always smiled, was always placid. She had been a lifelong worrier but no longer had the capacity to worry.
I’d hold her hand for hours while we talked, but she didn’t know who I was.
One day she said of her daily life. “I like it here. These people bring me my coffee and newspaper every morning. They let me watch the TV shows I like. Their children are so sweet."
Those “people” were her daughter and son-in-law. “Their children” were their grandchildren, my mother’s great-grandchildren.
She’d sit and go through the paper for an hour, clearly not reading a word, content.She was more relaxed, more at peace, than I’d ever seen her in my life
Unfortunately the plaque formation hypothesis has failed after 30 years of research because nothing can be done for treatment. Took a long time to figure it out. And it is devastating to those who are in dire need of treatment that could help them. Unfortunately there is nothing yet. It may be 30 more years to find a means of treatment for this scourge. Maybe. Too bad we can’t store them away till one comes about.
Concretionist over 4 years ago
Our personality is mostly housed in an organ that can fail. Double jeopardy.
PraiseofFolly over 4 years ago
My uncle, the smartest one of that generation of our family, traveled to nearly every state park in the western U.S. He would park his car by the ranger station, say he would be back in two weeks, and go into the forests with his back pack.
His world gradually focused down to a nursing home bed. After weeks of immobility, within seconds of his death, he sat up, eyes closed, with a smile on his face. I said at his wake that on the other side of that point his existence was widening out again, that he was hiking celestial trails. I hope so, and who’s to say for sure not?
dcmotrl Premium Member over 4 years ago
I was an OT that tried to move along changes in memory units in several facilities. I specialized in cognition in dementia and matching needs with individual programs. The facilities primary goal was the promotion of order and placidity. They were not willing to make any changes that required increased staffing ratios . They were happy to work on fall prevention and safe seating. The staffing and care is given to minimally capable and poorly educated staff who tend to infantalize and control. Our elder care model is medical and maintenance. Unfortunately the costs of individual care are really high in all areas.
jimmjonzz Premium Member over 4 years ago
Is there beyond the silent night
An endless day?
Is death a door that leads to light?
We cannot say.
(Robert Ingersoll)
StackableContainers over 4 years ago
It’s good for the patients is debatable, but I think in a lot cases it’s better than the care they would receive under other circumstances. I know for sure it’s good for the family because everyone I have met who took care of a spouse or parent with Alzheimer’s (or severe dementia) at home ended up suffering from several things from this list: 1] psychologically ill with anxiety or depression based disorders, 2] ulcers; 3] high blood pressure; 4] in many cases back injuries trying to lift the person (especially when caretaker is also older); 5] in many cases injured from the person striking out at them during a particularly bad disorientation moment (broken arm, broken nose, black eye, bitten so hard that surgery was required to fix the damage are just some of the injuries I have been told about.); 6] unable to maintain their employment (then financial devastation); 7] Stress from caretaking for a parent destroying their marital relationship; 8] in one case depression got so bad a suicide attempt….I could go and on. I was in a support group for a while for families of people with Alzheimer’s…the stories were heartbreaking. It made me grateful I had resources to afford a memory care facility for my Dad. Caring for the Alzheimer’s victim is important. But I have learned it just as important to make sure the loved ones of the victim are not destroyed by Alzheimer’s like the patient.
pc368dude over 4 years ago
We hide away that which disturbs us that we may be spared full consciousness of it all. Thing is, (1) I’m 77, and (2) as a career social worker I’ve been through them all – state hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, ‘assisted living’ homes, group homes, locked psychiatric nursing facilities, hospices, jails, state facilities for the ‘criminally insane’ – the list goes on.
jimmjonzz Premium Member over 4 years ago
I’m not sure what constitutes dementia.
For the last three years of her life, my mother couldn’t remember the names of any of her children.
But she always smiled, was always placid. She had been a lifelong worrier but no longer had the capacity to worry.
I’d hold her hand for hours while we talked, but she didn’t know who I was.
One day she said of her daily life. “I like it here. These people bring me my coffee and newspaper every morning. They let me watch the TV shows I like. Their children are so sweet."
Those “people” were her daughter and son-in-law. “Their children” were their grandchildren, my mother’s great-grandchildren.
She’d sit and go through the paper for an hour, clearly not reading a word, content.She was more relaxed, more at peace, than I’d ever seen her in my life
Malcolm Hall over 4 years ago
Come on , they didn’t gave singalongs or bingo in the gulags!
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 4 years ago
Unfortunately the plaque formation hypothesis has failed after 30 years of research because nothing can be done for treatment. Took a long time to figure it out. And it is devastating to those who are in dire need of treatment that could help them. Unfortunately there is nothing yet. It may be 30 more years to find a means of treatment for this scourge. Maybe. Too bad we can’t store them away till one comes about.
pamela welch Premium Member over 4 years ago
My sincere sympathy Ted — terrible disease
gregorylkruse Premium Member over 4 years ago
Maybe you should quit your job as cartoonist and go work in a nursing home.