Scott I am very sorry for your loss. Because that is what it is -- a loss. My grandmother had Alzheimers and it was particularly hard since she had always been so ladylike. There is not much you can do.
You can be aware that Alzheimers is a diagnosis of exclusion, or at least it was. What this means is that it is diagnosed when no other cause has been found for the symptoms. You can make sure that they really really have considered all alternative diagnoses. There are now identified changes in brain structure but it seems to me that they find these at autopsy. Larry might know more. I am emphasizing this because a hospital in Detroit had my great-aunt all diagnosed as a dementia patient, complete with DNR, and she turned out to be severely dehydrated. If you are in fact sure of the diagnosis, well, there is no easy way to say this... you should try to establish his wishes in terms of a living will. You should also, and this is very important, make arrangements for respite care. If a family member is saying that they will just take care of him, well, that is too much for any one person. I am telling you. My aunt tried this for my grandmother and it was really hard on everyone -- her children, her husband, herself. We really think that the stress contributed to my aunt and uncle's untimely deaths. My grandmother would shoplift. She needed a babysitter. She had to be taken to the restroom. She would wander off and have to be searched for. And every so often she would have moments of absolute clarity when she knew exactly what was going on and how hard it was to take care of her. It traumatized the entire family, all the way down to second cousins. I can't emphasize enough that this will be hard. Get help. I remember my aunt saying in quiet horror that my grandmother was quite healthy and could easily live another twenty or thirty years. She and her husband both died of cancr, which is yes, highly preventable, but there is no doubt in my mind that stress made my uncle and cousin smoke more and was a contributing factor. On 8/11/07, Scott Stewart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > My father was diagnosed with Althzheimer's about a month ago, with the move, > I'm only beginning to deal with this. > > What the fuck do I do. He is (was?) a brilliant man, one of the original > computer programmers within the Federal Government. > > > > We caught it very early, and he's responding well to Aricept, but I don't > know if I can handle the slope he's gonna slide down.. > > > > Is it warped of me to wish that he passes away before it get's too far > along. I don't want the grandkids to see him in the disease's worst states. > > > > I'm at a loss.. > > > > sas > > > > -- > > Scott Stewart > > ColdFusion Developer > > > > SSTWebworks > > 4405 Oakshyre Way > > Raleigh, NC. 27616 > > (703) 220-2835 > > > > http://www.sstwebworks.com > > <http://www.linkedin.com/in/sstwebworks> > http://www.linkedin.com/in/sstwebworks > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Download the latest ColdFusion 8 utilities including Report Builder, plug-ins for Eclipse and Dreamweaver updates. http;//www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=labs%5adobecf8%5Fbeta Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:240050 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
