Early Alzheimer’s Update

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My free-time for WordPress blogging and commenting, on all of my sites, is going to become very short, sometimes infrequent or rare. My soon-to-be 84-year old mother will be going into a full-time Memory Care Assisted Living facility this month or early December. Her Stage 7 Dementia is now into Early Alzheimer’s.

Two other reasons have caused this over the last 4-5 months. First, Mom has fallen twice in the last 3-months. She is unable to get up from the floor or ground on her own if no one is nearby or within earshot. Fortunately, I was home when these last two falls occurred. One of them was around 2:30am when I got out of bed to use the restroom. She happened to hear me and yelled for my help. She had no idea how long she had been on the floor or how she fell/tripped.

The second reason she must go into Assisted Living is because alone by myself, 12-16 hours per day with her, the last 28-months (with no day off every single one of those 12-16 hrs days), has almost killed me. I can no longer manage everything for her life, especially with no respites at all for that long. Mentally, emotionally, and physically… I am fried, spent.

Mom at Mackinac Island, MI, June 2021 (L), and Mom & I at Kerrville Renaissance Festival, Jan. 2023

As a result of these 850+ days and nights of non-stop caretaking, I have developed chronic health problems. My own health has taken a serious nosedive the last 12-14 months primarily due to a worsening of my sacroiliitis, agitated and inflamed daily due to the fact that Mom’s Senior Community apartment is designed for elderly wheelchair residents, i.e. everything, and I mean everything in the bathrooms, sinks, kitchen appliances, pantry, bathtubs, closets, etc, are intentionally installed/built down low, where I must constantly bend over/down or get on one knee or sit on a footstool. Two plus years of doing this daily has three-times dropped me to the floor in the fetal position in excruciating pain.

It can wait no longer. I now have no choice but to greatly improve or recover my own health.

Therefore, my sister and I will be moving Mom into River Point of Kerrville within the next 2-4 weeks. This also means me moving out, perhaps back to Dallas, TX. This is up in the air for the moment. But one thing is certain: I can no longer live in a small country rural town with so many ultra-religious, super-Conservative rednecks and a never-ending sea of LOUD (diesel) monster pickup-trucks that don’t fit inside ANY parking-space in any parking lot! And I won’t go into the intellectual levels or prowess (or lack) of most people in this four-county area. I badly need more brain-stimulations on higher levels, period.

Hence, please excuse my increased absence here, on WordPress and your blogs. Hopefully, when life settles back down and returns (for me at least) to “normal,” after I know exactly where I will be living and working (again), then I shall be back in force. 🙂

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 

20 thoughts on “Early Alzheimer’s Update”

  1. Of course, most of us knew this was coming. In many ways, it’s for the best … mostly for YOU! But the fact that it has had to take place at all is regrettable and sad.

    Do what you are able, PT, and forgive yourself for the things you cannot do. It WILL get better … and life WILL return to a semblance of normal. My thoughts are with you. ❤

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  3. My heart goes out to both you and your mum, dear friend. Do what you need to in order to restore your own health — you did as much as you possibly could for your mum, and now it’s time to take care of yourself. I’ll hope to see you when you have the time and energy to post or drop in, and will be keeping you in my heart and thoughts in the meantime. Huge Hugs

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  5. Howdy Professor!

    I’m glad to hear that you’re making this move. Having been her sole care provider for so long makes me wonder how guilty you might feel about placing her in a care facility. You shouldn’t. You have fought the good fight for all the right reasons.

    The reality is that one person cannot provide all of the care someone like your mom needs. Not only is it a healthy decision for you, but it is for her as well.

    I look forward to your posts as you process your decision, the effects it has on your well-being, and how your mom is doing.

    Huzzah!
    Jack

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    • Ah, hello my friend Jack! ❣️ It has been a long while hasn’t it? My apologies for that. As you might imagine, even before this family decision my WordPress free-time was already greatly reduced by Mom’s condition in July 2021. It’s even more so now. I’m sorry. 😟

      You are quite correct in all you say and I really do appreciate your sentiments Sir. Thank you very much.

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      • Howdy Professor!

        I remember your posts about your mother’s condition, so I understand the difficulty in regularly or frequently getting to the sideline that WordPress is. We’re all only part-time bloggers, but full-time family members.

        I wish you all the best in your recovery and your mother’s ongoing care.

        Huzzah!
        Jack

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    • Yes, a question rarely asked Jim and less so even considered. My obvious fault is that I do not sit by and do nothing, ignore a need that can be (easily) given, and perhaps too often at my own expense. All my life I have NEVER been one to shy away from “teamwork” or stepping up to lead, to direct, or organize a team should no one else want to. And obviously, I ignore my own well-being in order to “DO SOMETHING,” not nothing.

      I get this from my USMC father and his entire family of military veterans as well as volunteered enlistments—there are many in my paternal family. 🤷‍♂️ We don’t sit by.

      Thank you so very much Jim. I’m doing my best my Friend. ❤️

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  7. I took a job cleaning two small restaurants 7 nights a week. I held out for a year. Hardest job I ever did. Not hard work but mentally completely exhausting. Sisyphus with a broom. 850+, Sir you are an ironman.👌
    All I know of Dallas is my sister lives there. She’s retired DPD and lives in what is called the “University district”. I only note this as she tells me she does not lose power when the grid goes down. Go there, don’t freeze.

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    • Thank you kindly ryinger77 for those words and your sentiments. ❣️ I wish I felt like an ironman. 😏😄

      DPD? As in Dallas Police Department? And I’m guessing that if she is former police, you also mean “University Park,” where Southern Methodist University sits and just north of the famed Highland Park… of many sports professionals residence and south of former President George W. Bush’s house in Preston Hollow? That would explain why the areas “don’t lose power when the [Texas] grid goes down.” 😉

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