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Common Alzheimer’s and Dementia Behaviors: Manipulation
You hear your brother in the kitchen, fumbling around with some car keys. “Shoot, he found them,” you whisper to yourself as you try to intervene. His doctor estimates he’s in the middle stages of mixed dementia, and everyone on the care-partner team (your brother included) agreed several years ago it would no longer be […]
Common Alzheimer’s and Dementia Behaviors: Collecting & Hiding Things
Your husband’s out in the living room watching TV, and you’re busy pushing through your chore checklist. In his advancing stages of dementia, it’s been increasingly necessary for you to plan and perform daily tasks. You’re about to put away his laundry and you stumble across one of the most common Alzheimer’s and dementia behaviors: […]
Is Routine the Key to Good Elder Home Care?
Knowing how to care for your aging loved one is difficult. Is it better for them to have a regimented routine? Or would it be better to let them (and help them) make decisions that are right for them? The answer may be: It depends. We prefer and advocate the person-centered care model, which lets […]
Common Alzheimer’s and Dementia Behaviors: Appetite Loss
Your husband sits at the kitchen table, thumbing through an old golf magazine for the umpteenth time. It’s about noon. You’ve prepared a nice, little lunch for him — just his favorite soup and sandwich. He looks it over, but 20 minutes later the soup is cold and he hasn’t even touched his sandwich. […]
Common Alzheimer’s and Dementia Behaviors: Sleep Issues
Before I met my life partner/care partner, Brian LeBlanc, he lived alone. He had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and the sleep disturbances were already growing more frequent and severe. He was scared. It wasn’t just difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. At times, vivid dreams and hallucinations before going to bed or upon […]
Have You Ever Considered a ‘Living Memorial Service’?
Brian and I were talking the other day about his final wishes. It’s likely that Brian, my life partner/care partner who lives with Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, will not be coherent or communicative as the end draws near. We’ve made peace with that. But, no matter what, he’d like to be surrounded by his […]