This very recent former A list talk show host is now retired and the other day she kept telling the doorman to a building that she lived there now. She doesn't and has not lived there in 20 years.
I'm so, so counting on good genes...my mom started slipping at 90, and passed 2 months ago at 95. My dad is 99 at his next birthday. He still drives, well, including to the gym. 90 years ago he sold newspapers on the street...today he's on Facebook and Skype.
Well sex, booze, drugs and rock n roll probably didn't help Malcolm but it also depends on whether you've been dealt the genetic card for early on set Alzheimer's. Most early on set dementia is genetic. My mother's gerontologist had a Alzheimer patient that was diagnosed at age 40.
A few years ago a friend of mine who had sort of "adopted" this elderly Danish man (we are all in a community garden together) ... he had a wealthy nephew who paid for his care but this mutual friend was the person who took him on vacation, had him over for dinner, checked on him all the time ...
Well into his 90's this old guy was gardening, hiking 10 miles a day, living independently. But then he got dementia and had to be put in an assisted living facility. We live in a big city on the west coast.
One winter night my friend called me to say that he had left the faciity around 2 pm and the staff had just called her (it was then 9:30 pm) to say that he hadn't come back yet.
So, she called the police and got into her car and so did I, and we started driving around trying to find him.
I had the strong feeling that he would have gone back to his old neighborhood, which was close to the community garden, so I focused on that area.
I drove around for four and a half hours, and at 2 am finally decided to give up and go home. And then, as I was driving along, I saw him standing on a residential street corner. Just standing there, looking out into the street.
He was ON THE BLOCK where he used to live (but around the corner from his old home) and two blocks from the community garden.
94 years old, standing on a street corner at 2 am on a winter night.
So I stopped, told him we had been looking for him and bundled him into my car and took him to my friend. He had wet his pants. And on the drive over to her house, every time I asked him where he had been all day, he smiled a sweet smile and told me that my sweater was really pretty.
Then he said "I live on X Street" (his old home). I didn't correct him.
Poor old guy, he had snuck out because the assisted living people never took him for walks and he had been used to going for long walks. Then he had forgotten where he lived, so he went "home" except he didn't live there any more.
He lived to be 98, almost 99.
We had another community garden member who got dementia, his wife gave up their garden plot and it was reassigned to someone else. I was membership director of the garden at the time, and the new member started complaining to me that somebody was splashing water all over his plant and harvesting things. We finally figured out it was the old plot-holder. He used to wander off and go to the garden, he didn't realize he didn't have a garden there anymore.
PSA: there are many causes of dementia; Alzheimer's is too often used as a "catch-all" term. In particular, sudden onset dementia can be caused by many other things, some treatable and therefore reversible. Many older people are on many medications. Always inquire about possible interactions if there is sudden onset dementia, and persist if the doctor shrugs you off. They may know their stuff, but you know your family member. My husband and I were trying to accept his father's behavior as "the way things are now" but suddenly with a change in medication he was 100% back, mentally (still physically limited). He remembers nothing of about 13 months. Also, in elderly people something as simple as a bladder infection can cause confusion and "nontypical symptoms" like dementia, and an antibiotic can take care of it. My grandfather had mis-diagnosed Alzheimer's; later they decided he'd had chronic meningitis. An antibiotic prescribed for something unrelated made his confusion better and one medical person saw the import of that. Properly treated, we got the gift of an extra year and a half with him. He was able to move back home and celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary, when months earlier he didn't know who or where he was. Alzheimer's should be a diagnosis of exclusion, only made when all other causes can be ruled out. And when dementia presents, carefully examine if anything else has changed in the person's life.
Poor Barbs. She's been a bit off for sometime now. I hope someone's looking after her. Perhaps a sturdy redwood. "If you were a tree, what tree would you be"? I think that's when she started losing it.
Barbara Walters
ReplyDeleteThat's sad. She's super old though so I doubt it'll be long before she passes
ReplyDeleteCranky dementia is no fun. I'm hoping for happy dementia, myself.
ReplyDeletehttp://radaronline.com/exclusives/2014/09/barbara-walters-dementia-fears-memory-lapses-retirement-the-view/ Barbara walters
ReplyDeleteAltho i never cared for the woman, this is sad.
ReplyDelete*Starting* to have memory lapses at 85 is sort of expected, though. I mean - 85.
ReplyDeleteI'm so, so counting on good genes...my mom started slipping at 90, and passed 2 months ago at 95. My dad is 99 at his next birthday. He still drives, well, including to the gym. 90 years ago he sold newspapers on the street...today he's on Facebook and Skype.
DeleteNever wish dementia on anyone. It's a horrible disease. While you eventually forget it all (maybe) the time where you're half there is absolute hell.
ReplyDeleteCosign Sherry
ReplyDelete@Sherry so true. I'm going thru it with me dad right now.
ReplyDeleteMalcolm Young of AC/DC has had to retire because of dementia as well.
ReplyDeleteBowler-wow. He cant be that old. Sad.
DeletePoor Bawbwa!! You did have a good run I must say. I'm sorry, I hope she's doing okay. Sad.
ReplyDeleteLOL. I was going to guess Chelsea Handler. Only thing that was stopping me is tbe "A List" rating.
ReplyDeletethe Ac/Dc guy is only 61. Crazy young to be so ill.
ReplyDeleteBethanny Frankel
ReplyDeletebarbara walters
ReplyDeleteWell sex, booze, drugs and rock n roll probably didn't help Malcolm but it also depends on whether you've been dealt the genetic card for early on set Alzheimer's. Most early on set dementia is genetic. My mother's gerontologist had a Alzheimer patient that was diagnosed at age 40.
ReplyDeleteI read that about Malcolm the other day. :(
ReplyDeleteHey at 85, Babs has earned the right to forget a few things.
Sally Jesse Raphael
ReplyDeleteSally Jesse Raphael
ReplyDeleteA few years ago a friend of mine who had sort of "adopted" this elderly Danish man (we are all in a community garden together) ... he had a wealthy nephew who paid for his care but this mutual friend was the person who took him on vacation, had him over for dinner, checked on him all the time ...
ReplyDeleteWell into his 90's this old guy was gardening, hiking 10 miles a day, living independently. But then he got dementia and had to be put in an assisted living facility. We live in a big city on the west coast.
One winter night my friend called me to say that he had left the faciity around 2 pm and the staff had just called her (it was then 9:30 pm) to say that he hadn't come back yet.
So, she called the police and got into her car and so did I, and we started driving around trying to find him.
I had the strong feeling that he would have gone back to his old neighborhood, which was close to the community garden, so I focused on that area.
I drove around for four and a half hours, and at 2 am finally decided to give up and go home. And then, as I was driving along, I saw him standing on a residential street corner. Just standing there, looking out into the street.
He was ON THE BLOCK where he used to live (but around the corner from his old home) and two blocks from the community garden.
94 years old, standing on a street corner at 2 am on a winter night.
So I stopped, told him we had been looking for him and bundled him into my car and took him to my friend. He had wet his pants. And on the drive over to her house, every time I asked him where he had been all day, he smiled a sweet smile and told me that my sweater was really pretty.
Then he said "I live on X Street" (his old home). I didn't correct him.
Poor old guy, he had snuck out because the assisted living people never took him for walks and he had been used to going for long walks. Then he had forgotten where he lived, so he went "home" except he didn't live there any more.
He lived to be 98, almost 99.
We had another community garden member who got dementia, his wife gave up their garden plot and it was reassigned to someone else. I was membership director of the garden at the time, and the new member started complaining to me that somebody was splashing water all over his plant and harvesting things. We finally figured out it was the old plot-holder. He used to wander off and go to the garden, he didn't realize he didn't have a garden there anymore.
Dementia sucks.
PSA: there are many causes of dementia; Alzheimer's is too often used as a "catch-all" term. In particular, sudden onset dementia can be caused by many other things, some treatable and therefore reversible. Many older people are on many medications. Always inquire about possible interactions if there is sudden onset dementia, and persist if the doctor shrugs you off. They may know their stuff, but you know your family member. My husband and I were trying to accept his father's behavior as "the way things are now" but suddenly with a change in medication he was 100% back, mentally (still physically limited). He remembers nothing of about 13 months.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in elderly people something as simple as a bladder infection can cause confusion and "nontypical symptoms" like dementia, and an antibiotic can take care of it. My grandfather had mis-diagnosed Alzheimer's; later they decided he'd had chronic meningitis. An antibiotic prescribed for something unrelated made his confusion better and one medical person saw the import of that. Properly treated, we got the gift of an extra year and a half with him. He was able to move back home and celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary, when months earlier he didn't know who or where he was.
Alzheimer's should be a diagnosis of exclusion, only made when all other causes can be ruled out. And when dementia presents, carefully examine if anything else has changed in the person's life.
Poor Barbs. She's been a bit off for sometime now. I hope someone's looking after her. Perhaps a sturdy redwood. "If you were a tree, what tree would you be"? I think that's when she started losing it.
ReplyDeleteI feel terrible if this is "Baba Wawa" but Wawa's been totally gaga for 3 years or more.
ReplyDeleteHer retirement was late in coming and, like Liz Taylor, we may not see her in public, save for highly controlling appearances, until her death.
Sad. Barbara Walters is my guess.
ReplyDelete