Facing a Diagnosis this Week

So sorry for your DH, sounds like you are doing everything you can, thanks for sharing. Are you the sole caregiver? My wife was diagnosed last year. So far it is not too bad. I just retired and can do the house chores and take care of dinner cooking. My wife still is able to do some cleaning and takes care of her breakfast and lunch. She was ok with surrendering her Drivers License and replaced it with a Colorado ID. Our next things to do is for me to get a lawyer for POAs and sell our house and buy a single story. She can still walk up and down the stairs but is very slow and very careful. It would be so much easier with everything on one floor. I need to do more research on that though, I don't want to sell, buy a single story house and then find out that after a couple of years that we need to move again to a place with assisted living help. I want it to work for us in a single story house and do everything possible to make that happen, but I need to be proactive to find out what it would take. Any feedback would be welcomed about anything ALZ related

I am the caretaker and, in spite of several chronic conditions that I have, at age 85 I am still able to take care of most things. Of course, that could change in a heart beat, which is why I wear a personal alarm. My DH still seems normal 90% of the time. Unless you knew his personal history, you wouldn't catch his confabulations.

That said, I know that I will eventually have to have help. I am praying that I will be able to care for him here at home until the end but….With the help of one of our local kids (who are helpful) I will be lookig into Assisted living and Memory Care for him, should I become incompacitated or die, and will put his name on waiting lists. (Important, even if you think you won't need to do that).

As to moving…we moved from CO to TX a year before he was diagnosed. In retrospect, he was already exhibiting a lot of symptoms. If we had to do it over again, I might have opted for a large apartment or a Condo where I wouldn't have to worry about yard and house maintanance. Now, all that is on me.

There are ways you can stay put if you either have family willing to actually help or if you can afford to hire help, unless they become unmanagable. Good luck to you in your journey.