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What should I expect and how soon

Kiran
Kiran Member Posts: 13
First Comment
Member
in Caring for a Parent

Hi. My mom is 79 years old and is a dementia patient. She has recently lost her ability to realize that she needs to urinate or poop. She does all of it in diapers and it's a nightmare to clean her up....as she gets angry, does not want to cooperate or listen while I clean her up. I am paranoid about her hygiene.

Her physical body is good...n she walks, moves around et all.

But her mental state is not good. At times, she is unable to make sentences of what she wants to communicate and barely understands what we are trying to tell or instruct her.

What should I expect next? I am worried that this may progress rapidly and want to be mentally prepared for the worst to come.

Comments

  • H1235
    H1235 Member Posts: 577
    500 Comments 100 Care Reactions 100 Likes 25 Insightfuls Reactions
    Member

    Welcome! This is a great resource on stages. https://us.v-cdn.net/6037576/uploads/P65AY7V6EJWC/tam-cummings-llc-handouts-282-29.pdf

    I hope it helps. How fast it will progress will probably depend on the kind of dementia she has. But then I think every pwd is a bit different. I’m sure other will chime in. So sorry for what you are going through.

  • M1
    M1 Member Posts: 6,788
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    Member

    Welcome to the forum. The staging tool Chug has given you is about the best one out there. Between incontinence and aphasia (loss of speech) she is probably in late stage 6 I would guess. It only gets more difficult from here.

  • M1
    M1 Member Posts: 6,788
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    have you thought about a hospice evaluation? You don’t need a doctor’s order and can call yourself. They can provide a lot of help.

  • N00dles
    N00dles Member Posts: 39
    Third Anniversary 10 Comments 5 Care Reactions
    Member

    Since she is having trouble communicating and understanding, you might want to try some sort of adaptive communication, such as pictures indicating activities, wants, or food/drink. You could make your own, or a quick search shows they sell communication picture books or flashcards for 'seniors', 'non verbal' and 'dementia'.

  • Kiran
    Kiran Member Posts: 13
    First Comment
    Member
    https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/212878#Comment_212878

    ThIs handout is extremely helpful. Thank you for sharing it with me. I am so glad that I joined this group as I am learning a lot on dementia and its stages.

    I continue to pray to God that my mom is liberated from this terrible illness and does not suffer more.

  • Kiran
    Kiran Member Posts: 13
    First Comment
    Member

    Very insightful....thank you very much

  • Kiran
    Kiran Member Posts: 13
    First Comment
    Member

    Thank you very much for the heads up.

    I continue to pray to God that she is liberated from this illness and may God give me and my family the strength and patience to deal with it each day

  • Kiran
    Kiran Member Posts: 13
    First Comment
    Member
    https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/212892#Comment_212892

    Thank you...will try n read up on hospice evaluation. I am not aware on this one. If you have any handouts, pls do share.

    Thank you

Commonly Used Abbreviations


DH = Dear Husband
DW= Dear Wife, Darling Wife
LO = Loved One
ES = Early Stage
EO = Early Onset
FTD = Frontotemporal Dementia
VD = Vascular Dementia
MC = Memory Care
AL = Assisted Living
POA = Power of Attorney
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