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originally posted by: Aldakoopa
My thoughts are with you and your family.
I was in a very similar situation as you a couple years ago. I'm currently 24, but back in December of 2011 my dad started acting... strange. He was put on paid administrative leave (or something like that) from work in the spring of 2012, and was then diagnosed with Alzheimer's in the summer of 2012 and could no longer work and had his license to drive revoked, sparking the idea that he could get a scooter since they don't require licenses in NC. By the end of 2012 his speach was starting to get slurred, he was convinced somebody "stole his scooter" that he never had, and had no sense of time; He would sleep for a couple hours at a time and would wander around, often going outside in the middle of the night looking for his scooter, going to houses around the neighborhood and looking in odd places for this scooter; including under my sister's kitchen sink in the cabinets! If it wasn't so sad it would be funny...
But you're right. It's just like watching someone die slowly in front of you but there's no way you can help. By the spring of 2013 my dad could no longer talk and was having trouble walking. He fell many times that spring/summer, trying to walk but falling over. It wasn't much longer and he couldn't walk at all, and he passed away in his sleep at the age of 61 in late fall of 2013.
It was about 18 months from the time that he was diagnosed until he passed away. I miss him every day... but not the way he went out. I miss who he was before. My mother took care of him the entire time, with the help of my sister, brother-in-law, and I, and in the later stages some home hospice workers.
I'll never forget the morning my mom called about 2 or 3 AM, crying saying he had died. I've never gotten dressed and out the door so fast in my life, to go be with her. When my grandma came over, walked into the room and looked at him and said "My baby boy!" and started crying...
Alzheimer's is a terrible, terrible disease that I wouldn't even wish on my most hated enemies. Every time I hear or read news about a breakthrough in Alzheimer's research, or a possible treatment being tested, I always stop what I'm doing and pay attention. If I could I'd help out in ridding the world of this terrible disease, but there's nothing I have to offer. I was so glad when Joe from NLBS donated money to the Alzheimer's foundation. Stories like yours hit close to home for me.
Thanks for sharing your story, and once again, I'll keep you in my thoughts. I wish you the best, and I'm truly sorry for what you're going through. Stay strong.
originally posted by: angelchemuel
I empathise with what you are going through. I lost my grandmother and mother just 2 years ago to this filthy disease.
It's heartbreaking.
As another member has mentioned, I too am taking coconut oil, not daily, just when I feel an 'urge'. I have told my children, as I am a candidate for it down the maternal line, that they are to put me in a home and only visit when they want to, not because they feel they should. They have already seen their grandmother and great grandmother die of it.....and that is quite enough.
Jane
originally posted by: grandmakdw
My father died of early onset Alzheimers. He was diagnosed at 61 and died at 68.
His decline was much slower than your mothers, but the progression was the same.
At the end he was "living" in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, he lived through in real life being in a bunker with 25 men, 4 of whom came out alive. His last speech was reliving that experience over and over and over. A true living hell.
We finally decided to disallow all medications except for palliative care (comfort care) pain and anti-psychotics, anti-depressents. Thankfully once we did that he died within a few months. Alzheimer's patients frequently get infections that go unnoticed because they are unable to articulate where the problem is or what it is. So a lack of antibiotics was what finally gave him the peace he so deserved. It was a very very difficult decision for my sister, mother and I, but we decided to give him into God's hands and take medicine out of the equation, except for comfort. We have never regretted our decision because his life was no longer a life, when he did speak, he was normally reliving the hell of Vietnam and knew only my husband (an army soldier) at the end.
I truly understand your pain.
I am now at the age where my Father first showed symptoms and live in abject terror that when I forget where I put my car keys, it is the first sign that I am entering the path to hell that is Alzheimer's. If I get it, I will insist while I am still "there" that from that moment on I will receive only pain and psychological meds to keep me free from psychological and physical pain. I'd rather die quickly of untreated pneumonia or a urinary infection or an infection from a cut, than to live for years in the hell hole of Alzeheimer's disease.
originally posted by: JeanPaul
originally posted by: grandmakdw
My father died of early onset Alzheimers. He was diagnosed at 61 and died at 68.
His decline was much slower than your mothers, but the progression was the same.
At the end he was "living" in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, he lived through in real life being in a bunker with 25 men, 4 of whom came out alive. His last speech was reliving that experience over and over and over. A true living hell.
We finally decided to disallow all medications except for palliative care (comfort care) pain and anti-psychotics, anti-depressents. Thankfully once we did that he died within a few months. Alzheimer's patients frequently get infections that go unnoticed because they are unable to articulate where the problem is or what it is. So a lack of antibiotics was what finally gave him the peace he so deserved. It was a very very difficult decision for my sister, mother and I, but we decided to give him into God's hands and take medicine out of the equation, except for comfort. We have never regretted our decision because his life was no longer a life, when he did speak, he was normally reliving the hell of Vietnam and knew only my husband (an army soldier) at the end.
I truly understand your pain.
I am now at the age where my Father first showed symptoms and live in abject terror that when I forget where I put my car keys, it is the first sign that I am entering the path to hell that is Alzheimer's. If I get it, I will insist while I am still "there" that from that moment on I will receive only pain and psychological meds to keep me free from psychological and physical pain. I'd rather die quickly of untreated pneumonia or a urinary infection or an infection from a cut, than to live for years in the hell hole of Alzeheimer's disease.
This is another part of the equation. If we can or should provide life ending procedures. Not that you went there but you're scratching on that surface.
All I can say is if I was diagnosed with Alzhiemer's I would like to die my own way on my own terms. Which would be much earlier than the natural progression of the disease.
In a perfect world we wouldn't be confronted with such "choices". I choose the path of least suffering. For myself.
originally posted by: angelchemuel
I empathise with what you are going through. I lost my grandmother and mother just 2 years ago to this filthy disease.
It's heartbreaking.
As another member has mentioned, I too am taking coconut oil, not daily, just when I feel an 'urge'. I have told my children, as I am a candidate for it down the maternal line, that they are to put me in a home and only visit when they want to, not because they feel they should. They have already seen their grandmother and great grandmother die of it.....and that is quite enough.
Jane