Is this Possible

Momx3 · May 29

My DH who has dementia and I estimate is in the beginning to mid stage 5. Just for the heck of it I asked him yesterday to draw a clock and put the hands at 3:00. He did it perfectly in less than a minute. This has really thrown me for a loop. Is this possible, has anyone had experience with this?

harshedbuzz · May 29

@Momx3

What you did wasn't the "clock test'. Typically, the direction given is to set the clock for "10 past 11" which is much more nuanced.

FWIW, dad did dismally with the clock drawing test. However, he could do serial subtraction by 7 even 6 months before he died when he was fully in stage 6.

HB

Chammer · May 29

@harshedbuzz just wondering ... do you think your dad was able to do serial 7 subtraction because he learned it in a sing song or rhythmic poetic way as a child so it was stored in his "song center" instead of his analytical brain?

blacksparky · May 29

Just shows how this disease affect everyone differently.

notequipped · May 30

I think that every person with Alzheimer’s is different. Depends on their skill set before Alzheimer’s and what areas of their brain are most affected.

harshedbuzz · May 30

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/273572#Comment_273572

No. The math/arithmatic was just baked in for him.

The other odd thing he did as a PWD was how he managed his word-finding glitches into the middle stages. If he couldn't quite recall a word, he'd code switch to a more elevated synonym. When he was attending a care meeting at rehab after a hospitalization, I found the meeting room by following his voice bellowing "by whose authority am I incarcerated in this place?"

Interestingly, the DON explained their responsibilities to keep him safe and avoid involvement with APS. Dad came away confused and believing that APS was a police unit charged with making old people behave themselves. For a time, mom could invoke "the old-people police" to get compliance from dad.

HB

psg712 · May 30

So interesting. It does seem as if skills that were well established would be lost later in the disease, but everyone is different. My mom was great with numbers. Worked in bookkeeping most of her career. The day I learned that she could no longer balance her checkbook was my wake up call. For her long time physician, it was her failure on the serial subtraction test that convinced him I wasn't kidding about serious cognitive changes.

Barbie300 · May 30

My DH is probably in Stage 5 but we play Rummicube every week with 2 other people. Every hand he asks how many tiles he is supposed to have and every hand he asks how many points you need to meld. But what amazing that once the game gets going he wins probably 50% of the time. Sometimes I think he doesn’t try to remember things bc it is easier to just ask me.

Momx3 · June 1

Thanks everyone for the responses, they are very much appreciated.

Maru · June 1

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/76163/is-this-possible

Dementia, esp. ALZ, is not a straight line.

Is this Possible

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