My Mother (who passed away a couple years ago) had dementia. By the end she couldn’t remember the house she lived in most of her married life or the retirement house my father built where they lived for 30+ years. She often thought I was my dad, etc. Some of it was a by product of the miriad of medications she took to stay alive, but much was genetic (her Father died of “Hardening of the Arteries…”) and the fact that her life after she was diagnosed with Primary Biliary Scerosis of the liver consisted of sitting around complaining and waiting to die. Without exercise nor any hobby, or anything else to keep from dwelling on her “condition” she mostly spent the last 35 years of her life telling everyone about her pain and how awful things were (My dad used to call it her “organ recital”). I find it very interesting that My 94 year old Father-Law-Law has done crossword puzzles for many years. Was still making parts for airplanes (his hobby - and I mean the 1/1 size) well into his 70’s and early 80’s and was still working at the age of 84 when he was forced to retire. He mowed the lawn at a local Graveyard. He was very upset when he lost the job! When he was 86, he used to get up at 4:00 in the morning in the winter and shovel out the snow from all his neighbors driveways. My Father was much the same way. At 86, he decided to finish the drainage tile he was installing in the back yard. So he dug, by hand, the trench for it 3’ deep and 50’ long, laid the tile, put in crushed stone, and then filled it all back in and tamped down the soil. Then he planted a garden over it. He was also still active in community affairs, had served on the Planning Board and helped author a book on locale One Room Schools when he was in his 80’s. At the end of his remarkably healthy life (I remember the nurse when he had his first heart attack saying, "Mr, Howard you must be taking more t
Help!!! Somebody help me find my layout!!!
As Molly used to say, “T’ain’t funny, McGhee!” My 86 year old Mother has begun to show signs of dementia - just dementia, mind you - but it is really tragic to have watched it develop. She knows who I am but she can’t remember that I had cooked up a meal and brought it over for her and dad on the previous weekend; she knows the name of my two daughters but she can’t remember where they live; awhile back my dad took her to a doctor’s appointment and two days later when I was over there she couldn’t remember that she had been to the doctor. My dad has had most of the medical problems in the family but I have always been fearful that it would be mom who collapsed first - and that appears to be coming to pass; dad is probably going to reach the point where he can’t take care of her and, most certainly - she can’t remember from one day to the next that she is on medication - she could not care of him nor for herself; my two brothers and myself have begun to formulate plans so that when the situation gets beyond toleration we can get some form of assisted living for them.
My mother always had such a vivid memory; to an extent I owe her my life; ten years ago when I had my heart attack I called on the phone to tell her about how lousy I was feeling - my heart attack was one of those painless ones - and she said, "You are having a heart attack, call 911!’ How would she have known I was having a heart attack? because she had done extensive reading on the subject and knew just what all the symptoms were; I sure as heck didn’t. I would sure as heck never have driven myself to the Emergency Room if she had not insisted.
She stays active by continuing to read but I have no idea how much she retains on a day by day basis.
We are involved closely with people who carry alzheimer’s disease and frankly, it is a living death from my point of view.
First the car gets taken away, then long rifles, shotguns etc (If any) then anything that presents a danger. Finally the patient needs 24/7 care with eyeballs on that person’s body constantly until they become unable to perform basic human functions such as eliminating body wastes and must be remanded… uh… transferred to a Nursing home when either the family’s money runs out or the patient becomes too unstable 24/7 there, they can expect to die having lost everything that they have been or are in the mind… all of it.
Sometimes they get combative because of these strange people (Caregivers, family members…) trying to control them while they are desperately trying to find that “Lost” something. They will search the home stem to stern, port to starboard and walk the lands to the ends of the earth desperately looking for that “Something” 24/7.
That is all im going to say about this. You definately dont want anyone who demonstrates this problem or similar problems around electricity, chemicals, power tools etc.
Live your life richly, fully and do as much as you are capable of. That I think is the best tonic for the mind/body and spirit… before we have to deal with these diseases.
I cannot speak more specifically about this without running into a mass of Legalese designed to protect patients privacy’s and other mountains of paperwork that groans with "Do-not’s and “Thou shalts”
Me? I already have instructions just in case I catch it. You will never see me in a Nursing home. The ones Im familiar with manage to take away just about every possible decision, choice or freedom of action you could possibly think of. With some of the incidents I managed to cheat death in the past Ive felt that I lived well enough thak ye.
One of the saddest things I have to endure in my profession is watching people suffer with no hope. The reason they do this is because the have been indoctrinated into the idea that our medical system is the best in the world and that no better care is available for them. They believe that anyone who suggests otherwise is just out for their money, because that, too is what they’ve been told to believe…
and most people will suffer needlessly and die (or let their relatives suffer needlessly and die) before they look outside their box.
I think what makes dementia and Alzheimer’s such horrible diseases is that it is as bewildering and frightening for folks on both sides of the suffer’s eyeballs. For the individual, incomprehension of their circumstances must be truly awful for a mind that is programmed to act heuristically (to search for patterns and for ways of doing things by discovery), but hasn’t the retention to use to build upon the last thing learned. I saw that recently at an EN&T’s office for a minor lip operation when an elderly woman seated opposite was jabbering to herself, wringing her hands with a worried look on her face, rocking back and forth, and asking me why she was there. If we explained it to her, should would relax for a fraction of a second and acknowledge our several replies, but then immediately ask, “Why am I here…I want to go home.” I can only imagine what hell she was going through.
Then, for those who know the person best, and who love him/her, what a shocking disparity between the vital, cognisant, and sharp individual who months earlier would recognize them, reply quickly and wittily to small talk, recall long-past events with clarity, and remember to plan for the next meal. They are no longer the same person, despite their looks (and often the looks change, too).
Very sad. What a trial, on both sides.
[;)] Exactly! LOL
I have two reasons for being involved in the model railroading hobby.
1/ my love of trains , 2/ to try and keep my mind active and help prevent Alzheimers.
My Dad died of Alzheimers 9 years ago, to watch a big strong health man turn into skinny, pale shell of a man is soul destroying, I watched him take his last breath, thankfully he did not have to endure the humiliation of not being able to think for himself any more.
They say there is a chance that I may get it myself, hopefully being involved with model trains will help prevent it, I realy do Pray to God that I never get it.
Now aged 64 I guess I am like many folks and just get a little forgetful, I get a cold chill up my spine when it happens to often.
I regret to say that I know a man who is highly educated and has an active mentality, interested in dozens of topics including Eastern art, printing, ecology, history, boats and shipping (and trains to a slight extent), keeps incredibly busy, sails the world, and does not sit around watching TV, yet that has not prevented an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
There may be something to this “keep an active mind” notion but more seems to be involved than just that.
Dave Nelson
Thanks Dave I just plummeted 20 stories down the drain.
"Of All the things that I have lost…
I miss my mind the most."
The good news is that there’s some very good research that shows that educational level, amount of physical activity, and involvement in hobbies that require a lot of planning and judgement do seem to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s (or dementia, it’s all basically one disease). The bad news is that Alzheimer’s has a definite genetic component. If you have parents who have or have had Alzheimer’s, you are at greater risk of getting it no matter what you do. You can delay the onset by doing the things I’ve mentioned above but there’s at least an even chance you will get it if you live long enough.
Look at it this way. That vast majority of us are men. Almost 100% of all men will get prostate cancer if they live long enough. Only about 4% of American men die from prostate cancer. Why? Because something else gets us first, like a heart attack or stroke. While it’s tragic to watch people deteriorate with Alzheimer’s, most of us won’t get it and, of those who do, something else will kill you within the first year of onset of Alzheimers in about 40% of the cases. So I’ll do what I can to stay both physically and mentally active and keep playing with my trains. Something is going to kill me but I’ll wait until it happens before I start worrying about it.
I agree, we should all continue with our great hobby, we all have to die of something and extra anxiety only makes a person unhappy, in some cases it can speed up the onset of certain diseases.
For those that know Monty Python they were right when they said “Always look on the bright side of life”.
My mom and I look after a little lady that turned 90 back in mid April, and she has Alzheimer’s. One day she’ll be fine, but then the next day she’ll be ranting about her husband that’s been dead over twenty years and all the bad things he did to her, or wants to know why there isn’t someone down on the Mexican/US border keeping the terrorists from sneaking across. She can tell you anything that happened fifty or sixty years ago, but can’t tell you what she had for breakfast this morning… We’ve tried to get her to go into a nursing home but she won’t have any part of it. Eventually she’ll have to go into a home for her own good whether she likes it or not. It’s sad. I remember when she had her good mind, and have watched her gradually go down in the last several years.
Tracklayer
HEY, HEY, HEY…
I resemble that remark! grin
I’ve been active my whole life and never had many medical problems. Some have called me a gulp workaholic. Until this year. And Then… POW!
Forced onto the disabled list, complete with little blue dangly thing with a wheelchair on it hanging from the mirror of my T-Bird. I’m spending an inordinate amount of time on the WWW, reading about methods to rebuild myself, no matter how unorthodox. I read to keep my mind active (or from going stir crazy). My mind wants me to get going but the body just cant keep up and some days it makes me madder than six wet hens.
One of the Clients became too unstable and was put into a Nursing home. The way it was done was at 2 pm sharp two nice people showed up with a unmarked vehicle and gently took him away. I think the client was unaware of the situation as he was pretty advanced.
One way to solve this issue would be for the editors to review all the obituaries that have been published in the Model Railroader magazine and see if any of them site dementia or Alzhiemers as the cause of death. I thought I noticed this pattern previously , but can’t say I have all of the obituaries publish. Bear in mind, all of these death notices would have been of people who were active model railroaders for at least a good portion of their lives, rather than as an activety only started at retirement age.