Important date organizer

cbender40

Hello all. I’m currently caring for my mother who has mid stage Alzheimer’s. Her current hurdle is the inability to read calendars. Does anyone know of any good product that may organize important dates for her in an easy to read/understand way?

Thank you!

SusanB-dil

At early mid-stage, we would write down any pertinent information on the calendar for MIL. However… ultimately, we had already taken over appointments and birthdays, anyway. She had a new calendar, but it was more for just to give her something she was used to having. It was really no longer pertinent to her. A white-board might work for just a short period of time.

H1235

With mil I don’t think we ever found anything that worked. We tried a white board for a while, but it didn’t work. She was pretty easy going so it really didn’t cause much of a problem. My mom is not exactly easy going. I usually call her the day before an event and sometimes the day of (if she answers her phone). Then I usually hear “well no one told me about this” when I come to pick her up. So I have found nothing that works.

harshedbuzz

There comes a time when tech and life hacks can no longer replace human supervision for a number of reasons. If I had a dollar for every Jitterbug phone, senior TV remote and automatic pill dispenser some loving family member offered their PWD I could take a pretty sweet vacation. She's likely not well oriented to time, so this information will mean little to her and could trigger anxiety. Because of her poor working and short-term memory, she won't be able to learn a new ways of doing things even if they seem simpler to you.

HB

mabelgirl

The only product is likely the one she created, you! We’ve done the white board route where each day I’d write what was scheduled. She’d still say she didn’t know about something. I put reminder messages on her phone that alerted her with a recorded message, no good she just ignored them. My sister bought her this annoying clock that makes bird noises when it’s time to do something like meal times and even says it on the clock. She says I was wondering why it made that noise. 🙄 My sisters and I will leave notes if she has something to do like a doctor appointment, tell her several times the day before and then the day of she asks many times what are we doing where we going … Prayers for patience, you’ll need it .

cbender40

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/227824#Comment_227824

thank you!

cbender40

Yeah it’s so tough. The same exact thing is happening with me. I’m going to continue to research. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share some good findings.

cbender40

Thanks for the response. So frustrating.

cbender40

Thank you for sharing. Trying my best on the patience front. Praying every single day.

WendysKid

Amazon has digital clocks for dementia patients that allows you to set up to 5 alarms a day including meals, medicine and apportionmentapportionments.

cbender40

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/227869#Comment_227869

Awesome. Thank you. I’ll be giving this a try.

Emily 123

Hi there,

I agree with others that changing the cue probably isn't going to work—this is more about the disease preventing her from being able to notice the visual cue, know the date, and initiate the expected action. That's a lot. Those things, and keeping track of time, all require a working short term memory, which is compromised by the disease. At this stage 'new' information and routines can't be learned without a lot of repetition, so new ways to prompt your person might not work well-they just won't notice them.

A lot of times it's less frustrating all around to (sigh to yourself and) unobtrusively work around the losses as they come. Sounds like the calendar is done, and the appointments are on you, if they aren't already. My mom hit that stage too, but did still like to have a little hand-sized calendar she could still cross the dates off of, and have everyone's birthdays listed. I just stopped putting appointments on it and she didn't notice.

Something also to keep in mind is that some PWD may become anxious about planning things out, given that they start to lose track of time and what day it is.

I followed the advice of the forum and only told my mom about appointments the morning of. Just less stressful. If she asked about appointments or due dates I'd tell her she'd done them the previous month.

Hang in there. It's so tough to watch a person's autonomy slide away from them.

NizhoniGrrl

We have a big digital clock that says the date, day of the week, time and time of day. So, Thursday, June 3, 4:30 pm, late afternoon. It’s not a calendar but it is a great reminder and helps with orientation. Also it’s big and prominent in her living room by her tv. Search for “dementia clock.”

MaryEllenDaughter

I tried giving my Dad a calendar, he wrote all over it, and said the notes I put on there were not for him. Very hrd

psg712

I agree, you can try various reminder options but none is likely to work for long. She can't process her old methods of keeping track of things, and learning new ones will be difficult if not impossible. I'm sorry.

Btx4171

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/227838#Comment_227838

This sounds so much like my situation too. Thanks for posting

cbender40

Thank you everyone for all the advice. I ordered a digital clock that can also receive messages/reminders. I’ll keep everyone posted on how it goes.