Yesterday I was helped to get here

[Guest guest]

I have been trying to get a grasp on what has been happening to my

father for 6 months. He went from being pretty lucid 9 months ago to

being almost completely in dementia all of the time now. He is 73

years old. We were told he had Parkinsons about a year ago and it

took him 4 months to get on the levadopa because he did not believe

he had it. Then he started to get strange ideas and thoughts and I

was very confused when talking to him. He started talking about

people being at his place who had already died like his mom and dad.

Saying that he was at a party last night and he saw me there and he

knew I was talking bad about him... on and on with strange things.

Meanwhile I am trying to take care of him and find a place where he

can get cared for and retain his dignity. I found him at his place

finally bleeding from falling down all the time and talking to

people who were not in the room. I got him to come home with me and

found an assisted living community to move him to. His delusion

became that he knows Arnold Schwarzenegger and that he has a secret

job to do for him and he needs to meet him and he kept trying to get

out of the facility. He did and fell in the street. I told the

people there to have and ambulance take him to Kaiser. He has been

there 4 days now and the neurologist says maybe it is Lewy Body

dementia. They say he has to go to a nursing home because he keeps

wandering and because his mobility is so poor and he is so confused

he has to be in the dementia ward. I feel devastated about this

because it seems as though there is no hope for improvement on the

part of the docs and he only has Kaiser to work with. The other

medicare supplements are telling me that with all of his problems he

probably cannot sign up for insurance with them.

I saw him today and he seems much calmer-they gave him a bit higher

dose of risperadol - and they are weaning him off of the sinemet.

They want him moved out of the hospital soon but they have to find a

place that will take him.

I don't know what to really do at this point except take care of his

bills and laundry and visit as much as I can. I cannot even move him

any closer because of the rules at Kaiser and their service area,

but the drive is only 40 minuts so I guess I should not complain

about that. I have felt so sad because it seems that my dad is gone

even though he is still alive. Sorry for the long first message.

Some of what I have read here sounds like folks get used to this

stuff and I hope I do because I feel very fatigued from looking for

placements, moving his things back and forth and just dealing with

talking with my dad without upsetting him by saying things that

don't jibe with his current delusion.

Thanks for listening.