- Re: Each Day

[Guest guest]

,

I too welcome you to the best bunch of people you never wanted to

HAVE to know.

Let me share my Dad's last year with you, as we were very much in a

similar situation. Dad had declined enough that we had asked him to

stop driving. (He too was having night hallucinations - look into

REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, if you haven't already. It's tied to

LBD.) He hadn't had any accidents, and was pretty highly

functioning physically. But he couldn't manage his checkbook or his

medicines any more. (We used the dispenser too for his meds, and

that was a challenge for a while!)

We took the bull by the horns, and asked his doctor to tell Dad it

was time to stop driving. It was painful, and for most of the last

year he has still complained about the need to give up his car.

One year has passed since he stopped driving, and he has declined

enough that operating simple home appliances is challenging. He

would be absolutely dangerous behind the wheel of a car, not because

of any physical impairment, but because he'd be mentally unable to

operate the vehicle safely.

We asked him to stop driving at the right time, and I have

absolutely no regrets.

As for how fast the disease progresses, it's different for

everyone. For my dad, I've noticed that he loses skills in a 3-9

month timeframe. From the first sign that something challenges him,

to when it becomes beyond his ability most days, is less generally

about 6 months.

Hope that helps.

> Thank you for the welcomes -- It's both helpful and hard to read

all of

> your posts. While I need to know there are others dealing with

these

> issues, I'm also so afraid of what's coming for Mom.

>

> Today she pried pills out of the next MedReady pill section

because she

> said it wasn't turning. I think she just took her morning pills

and

> thought she hadn't and that the machine was broken. All of her

next

> dose was of course broken and leaking all over by the time I got

there.

> She was so mad at me when I suggested that maybe she should leave

it

> alone and to let my sister and I take care of it, because we

wanted to

> do that for her.

>

> One big problem we're having now is that she wants to continue to

drive.

> Her doctor recommended a driving test to determine her ability.

Well

> she wants a new car and wants to know when we're going to go look

for

> one (we've been going back and forth on this for months). I have

told

> her she 1) need to take this driving test (she doesn't believe the

> doctor spoke to us about that) and 2) if she passed, why not wait

for

> the snow to melt to get a new car? She was pretty disgusted with

me at

> that.

>

> I would also like to know how the disease progresses if anyone

could

> give me an idea about that.

>

> Thanks and I'm glad I found this group!

>

>

>

> p.s. Kath, I'm so sorry to hear about the struggles you're having

with

> your Mom. It sounds dreadful. Try to take care of yourself

(easier

> said than done I know).

>

>

>