Tag Archives: dementia

TRY SAYING “HO-HO-HO” WHILE GRITTING YOUR TEETH 

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Chronicling The Battle With Dementia

Author:  Jerry Schill

I ended last month’s post with Pam “surrendering” her car keys, which means I’m now a chauffeur for shopping, doctor appointments, and so on. Getting groceries was an interesting experience as she would reach for items we didn’t need. At first I didn’t notice because she would put them in the shopping cart while I wasn’t paying attention. Rather than creating a scene I would just leave it go. I think at one time we had a half dozen jars of olives in the pantry! I started paying more attention when we shopped, and at first would let her know we don’t need what she put in the cart, but that would sometimes lead to “unhappiness,” so I would just put the item back on the shelf when she wasn’t watching. Most of the shopping now is done when a caregiver stays with her. I’m not one that likes to “shop.” Rather, I got to buy what I need and get out of the store. There are times when I reflect on the “good ‘ol days” when Pam would drive to the store and do all of the shopping.

In January 2023, after family discussions and advice of her primary physician, she started additional testing including oral memory tests, blood work and brain scan over a period of several months. The waiting time was a bit long to see the neurologist, so that was in July. I thought it interesting that I could surmise what the diagnosis was by looking at her patient portal in advance of the appointment with the doctor. The new diagnosis was Alzheimer’s. Labels don’t really mean much. The official diagnosis does not change your experiences in dealing with it.

I am going to revert back to the spring of 2011, or 3 years prior to us noticing Pam’s memory loss. That was the year our daughter and son in law, Sarah and Butch Midgett opened a retail toy store in Nags Head, NC. Pam and I help them prepare the store doing some painting and using our truck and trailer to deliver store fixtures. Their grand opening was in April and sometime in the summer they asked if we would portray Santa and Mrs. Claus after Thanksgiving. Why not? We both had the right hair color! They rented the outfits so the Saturday after Thanksgiving we were the Claus couple for about 4 hours. We enjoyed it so they purchased the outfits for us for 2012. Over the next several years we wore the suits at the toy store and a few events in Craven and Pamlico Counties. We purchased new outfits and had a great time. Pam was an excellent Mrs. Claus, with children reaching for her when they were too frightened to go to that scary Santa.

About 2016 we noticed changes in how she portrayed Mrs. Claus as she would be vocal, times if a child was not behaving or if one in diapers needed a diaper change. Let’s just say Mrs. Claus was not very jolly at times. Santa is supposed to be a jolly old elf and Mrs. Claus is expected to be so as well. In 2017 Santa was solo at the toy store while our son took Pam out for lunch and shopping. It might not sound like a big deal but that took an emotional toll on me because it forced me to realize things will never be the same. We were Santa & Mrs. Claus in downtown New Bern for a couple of years as part of Beary Merry Christmas, but her last year there was 2022. While I no longer go downtown, I continue as Santa at churches, community events, an occasional parade and home visits. The kids help out a lot in the Christmas season taking care of their Mom, and when they cannot I depend on paid workers or volunteers to stay with her.

The combination of looking like Santa even without the red suit during the Christmas season and dementia adds a bit more pressure. Santa is expected to be jolly at all times with no exceptions, so when things get challenging out in public, one needs to be aware of who may be watching! It’s hard to exclaim “Ho-Ho-Ho” while gritting your teeth!

Next month we’ll write about the challenges with the care-giving issue.

CONSISTENCY! OR THE LACK THEREOF!

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Author:  Jerry Schill

Last month I explained the chronological journey of our memory loss, dementia, and Alzheimer’s. We ended the post with our first “family” visit with the neurologist and her comment to “treasure the memories”.

One consistent thing about this disease is that nothing is consistent. We have an attached garage to the house and a two-stall garage out back where the workshop is. There was a period when Pam was my shadow, even following to the bathroom. She was very unsure of everything and was frightened if I was out of sight. When going out to the garage she would follow me there, and it was hard to get her to sit down for a while. While that may seem endearing, it was downright aggravating when trying to work on anything especially if it involved moving or working on a vehicle. That went on for quite some time, but it has evolved to where now it’s hard to convince her to go outside. If I’m working in the yard or the garage, I like to be able to keep a close eye on her for a number of reasons, but I also like her to get out and get fresh air. While this change happened over time, I didn’t really notice until one of the kids mentioned to me that Mom wasn’t following me around like she used to.

Taking meds has gone from easy-peasy to quite a challenge. There is one pill that has been the most problematic, and after you’re convinced it’s swallowed you find it under the table under the recliner or in the bedroom. It’s a pill that does not dissolve easily so she kept it under her tongue until we were not looking. As a result, I now grind her morning pills and dissolve them in very warm milk or a hot drink. It’s better to dissolve and add to cereal because it has a very bitter taste. It’s been working very well, although grinding some pills isn’t recommended. Sometimes you just must take the best, maybe not perfect, option.

Me and the kids agreed that her condition was progressing, so we made another appointment with a different neurologist in March 2018. Again, it was a family visit that came about after more testing. The new diagnosis went from Mild Cognitive Impairment to dementia. One of the kids asked about her driving and he strongly cautioned against it. I told the doctor that she hasn’t shown any problem driving up to this point, but he said the problem comes when she’s on her way to go shopping and encounters a detour due to an accident. She could end up miles away and he cited some examples of unnamed patients who did just that.

I’ve heard of many examples of loved ones who have gone through a literal hell when taking the car keys. However, I didn’t have that problem. Pam didn’t offer any resistance at all, but of course, it now meant more duties for me to do the driving. She was still able to shop, it was just the driving that was the problem. Now shopping wasn’t without it’s challenges as well, but we’ll cover that next month.

The Ongoing Story Of Dementia/Alzheimer’s

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Author: Jerry Schill

TREASURE THE MEMORIES 

Last month’s article was simply a short background to give the reader some perspective on our 10-year journey with dementia/Alzheimer’s, so this month I will begin with where it all started. 

It was in the summer of 2014 when our two daughters asked if I noticed anything about my wife’s memory. I replied that I did, although it was nothing to be overly concerned about at the time. For example, when I opened the refrigerator, I would find the ketchup and mustard in places where we typically did not put them. It wasn’t a question of right or wrong, just different, as in unusual. Without me present, the girls talked to their Mom about what they noticed about her memory. When I came into the house after about an hour all was good, but after the girls left the tears started. Pam was very upset that they mentioned to her about her memory. When she asked me if I noticed anything, I lied and said no. I’m not sure that was the right thing to do, but it seemed so at the time. That began a downward trend. At the time we were living in the country about 12 miles from New Bern.  

Two years later, 2016, we moved within the city limits of New Bern and shortly after made an appointment with a neurologist. After the normal oral exam to evaluate short term memory, there was a brain scan. The neurologist went over the results with Pam and me, including the brain scan, and explained about the abnormalities in the scan. She said the diagnosis was MCI or Mild Cognitive Impairment and stressed that it is not dementia, although that was a possibility in the future. Pam cried, and it was a rough few days after that appointment.  

I arranged for a family meeting with the neurologist. Our two oldest, Andy & Amy, attended as Sarah & Adam were unable to be there. The neurologist repeated the same explanation with Andy and Amy. Andy aske the question, “what do you suggest we do from here”? She answered bluntly, “treasure the memories.” 

While those words seemed cold at the time, it gave us the stark realization that things were going to be very different. 

To Be Continued Next Year…

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Author: Jerry Schill

Words such as dementia and Alzheimer’s were not as prevalent years ago as they are today. Perhaps the condition was present, but referred to by different names, like senility. No matter how you describe it, most every family is touched by this disease and feels the effects, made more real perhaps by how long we live today versus 75 years ago.

Over the next several months I’ll be writing about our family’s experiences with what I call the dementia journey. Please understand that I’m writing as one who has experienced it as the primary caregiver for my wife–not as a medical expert. One may have different experiences of course, but what I write isn’t from a perspective of what’s right– just our journey and how I have handled it.

For a little perspective, Pam and I dated in high school and were married in 1968, 56 years ago. My first tour of duty for the Air Force was in Peshawar, Pakistan, as an enlisted airman, proficient in my second language, Morse Code. After 15 months in the Northwest Frontier of what was then called West Pakistan, Pam and I were married, and she accompanied me to my next assignment in Anchorage, Alaska, at Elmendorf Air Force Base. After 4 years of active duty, I was discharged, and we returned home to Pennsylvania with our one-year-old son.

We moved to North Carolina on Labor Day, 1984, and I immediately became active in politics, volunteering for the campaigns of Jesse Helms and Jim Martin. Shortly after that, I became a candidate myself for the North Carolina state senate. My opponent was attorney Bill Barker, and he was the victor. Shortly thereafter, I began my long stint with the North Carolina Fisheries Association, while Pam was a licensed insurance agent for the Tom Cox Nationwide Agency. She was with Tom for 20 years, most of that time as the Office Manager, meaning her mental acuity was sharp as a tack.

I offer this background material because I think it’s important to understand our journey, which is at the ten-year mark.

I’ll continue this blog post next year, so I’ll take this opportunity to offer you and yours a very Merry Christmas on behalf of Pam and myself.

Vote for Biden:  Get Harris

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D   harropcrew1@gmail.com

It is very clear to every honest person, that Joe Biden is in serious cognitive decline (i.e. dementia).  As expected, the fake news is oblivious to what we see with our own eyes. As a clinical psychologist, I have some familiarity with dementia, which affects approximately one third of people 80 years or older. The most likely cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease, an irreversible brain deterioration. While being sympathetic to someone with dementia is humane, electing that person to be president is a different matter entirely.

There are seven defined stages of dementia. Each stage represents a definable set of symptoms of cognitive decline. It should be noted that progression through each stage accelerates as a person reaches the later stages. Based on observations, it appears that Biden is in stage three or four. It would be easier to determine the correct stage if the Biden regime was honest with the American people, which they are not. Their refusal to release the audio tapes of Biden’s interview with special prosecutor Hurr is a prime example of hiding the truth. He is too old and bumbling to be prosecuted, but he is fine to be president. Rather absurd, wouldn’t you say?

Symptoms of stage three and four include such things as being disoriented, getting lost when walking, forgetting the names of people they should be very familiar with, difficulty remembering important details from the past, and lack of knowledge of current events. Some examples from observing Biden:  total reliance on scripted teleprompter recordings, having to be led off the stage and being brought back to the group after wandering off,  appearing to blank out for seconds at a time, not remembering details of his son’s death, and making up absurdities like his uncle having been eaten by cannibals. His handlers are hiding him with a part-time schedule and excessive vacation time.   It is reported that Biden has been on vacation 40% of the days he has been in office and that his daily schedule starts at 11 AM and ends at 3 PM.  Not exactly what one would expect leading a country in the midst of foreign and domestic crises.

Here is what we can expect if Biden is re-elected. The next stage of dementia includes:  trouble organizing or planning; confusion concerning day, month or year; difficulty staying on task; inability to make decisions; and fatigue. Now, what do we expect a fully functioning president to be able to do? To start off with, he should have the energy and stamina to deal with the demands of the presidency. This is a full-time job, or actually a more than full- time job. The President must be able to absorb facts, weigh the advice from others, and make prompt decisions. This is especially true during times of crises. He must be able to communicate clearly and openly with others, especially to the American people. He must be able to project an image of strength and competence to other world leaders.

Now you have to ask yourself, “What is the likelihood that Biden will be able to meet these expectations in a second term when he cannot do it now?” Outcome? If re-elected, count on having Kamala Harris as your president.  A scary thought to most people.

Karma Isn’t Fun

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On Wednesday, PJ Media posted an article titled, “What a  Bad Day to Be a Democrat.” The article lists seven reasons for that statement. Please follow the link to read the details.

Here are the seven reasons:

1. By now you’ve heard that the Trump donation site crashed as patriotic Americans, 29.7% of whom were first-time donors, bombarded Trump with over $50 million in about 24 hours after the guilty verdicts, and a grand total of $200 million for the month of May.

2. A poll just out of my home state of Michigan revealed, much to the pain of the wailing, sissy-Mary sitzpinklers on the left, that the 34 guilty verdicts did not hurt Trump but, as America’s favorite commie-hating, radio talk show host/ PJ Media pundit/bourbon-drinking comedian pointed out, likely helped him.

3. New York City decided to incur a $15 “congestion tax” on people who travel south of 60th St. in Manhattan. The commies in charge thought it would be a tasty way to stick it to the profit-grabbing Milburn Pennybags of the Big Apple. 

But on Wednesday, Komrade Kathy Hochul delayed the tax indefinitely until the day after the presidential election because she knows New York State might, actually, possibly vote Republican for the first time in years.

4. As you’ve likely heard, the House Oversight Committee informed America’s notorious tergiversator, Merrick Garland, that it has proof that Hunter Biden and his uncle James Biden lied to Congress, which is a big, fat, juicy felony. The committee recommended criminal investigations.

4.5. The gun case against Hunter is pretty daming. But he is on his own turf, so it’s hard to say how this case will go. If the jury just looks at the facts and doesn’t succumb to the sympathy of the ghost of Hunter’s dead brother Beau, who has already made an appearance, Hunter should be found guilty.

5. Georgia’s sassiest pinko, Fani Willis, might get booted from the Trump prosecution case. That could go either way, but we recently learned that the Trump trial will not proceed until a judge has decided whether or not to send Fani to the showers.

6. Judge Aileen Cannon just might decide that Jack Smith has no legal right to persecute Trump in what the Castromaniacs are calling the “classified documents trial.”

7. The Wall Street Journal released a damning article about how Joe Biden has the mental faculties of a carrot. Biden’s dementia is becoming an inconvenient truth for the Democrats who see voters — especially black and brown people — leaving the Democrat plantation in record numbers.

Almost all of these are ongoing issues. Stay tuned.

Houston, We Have A Problem

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On Monday, Townhall posted an article about President Biden’s speech at the NCAAP Dinner on Sunday night. President Biden stated that he was Vice-President during the pandemic. The Covid pandemic began in 2019. President Biden was Vice-President from January 2009 until January 2017.

The article notes:

NBC News reported recently that Joe Biden’s aides and campaign advisers want him to shorten his remarks at public events. It’s a refocus on quality, not quantity. To everyone else, we only see the president’s handlers making sure Mr. Magoo doesn’t sound as bad as he is. Yet, even shortened speeches aren’t going to save Biden. The man is a serial liar. If he doesn’t drop a whopper, he sounds like a man with dementia. At the NAACP dinner in Detroit last night, Biden was aloof and dishonest. 

It might not be his fault—this time, it might be the dementia, which is why the president should not seek a second term. Yet, a blunder that’s a lie and shows his age is one of those moments that only gives the GOP cannon fodder to hit on the issue that 86 percent of Americans agree on, which is that Joe is too old for a second term. Biden said he was vice president when referencing the COVID pandemic during the event.

Politics has truly overruled common sense. If the debates happen, they will only confirm what we already know. Leaving this man in charge of America in his current mental state is foolish and dangerous.

 

How Long Can This Continue?

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On Sunday, Clarice Feldman posted an article at the American Thinker about our rapidly disintegrating President.

The article notes:

A day after his pumped-up divisive State of the Union address, unsurprisingly headlined “fiery” by the copycat media lackeys, President Biden, speaking in Pennsylvania, reverted to his old befuddled self.

“Pennsylvania, I have a message for you: send me to Congress!” 

“Last night [at] the U.S. Capitol — the same building where our freedoms came under assault on July the 6th!”

“We added more to the national debt than any president in his term in all of history!”

Some Americans believe that the senility and dementia are an act. I don’t agree, but I think it would probably be better if it were.

The article continues:

Well, the last statement is true. I’ll give him that. And large budget deficits are a pattern in Democrat-run cities and states. Democrats pay off cronies and constituencies with government money and then raise your taxes because they’ve spent more than they were able to squeeze out of the economy.

Nearest to me, that pattern is evident in Maryland and Washington, D.C.: They look the other way at rising crime because they defunded the police and decriminalized conduct and then bemoan empty purses as people and businesses flee. They locked down their states and were surprised to learn that capped the revenue spigot. They made ridiculous, frivolous expenditures like bike lanes and street cars and painting BLM on a major street and then can’t pay for necessities like cops, road repairs, and schools.

The article concludes with a list of some of the accomplishments of Calvin Coolidge and some of the things that happened under his watch:

Without government interference, private enterprise quickly electrified the country and created a transportation revolution as more Americans could drive their new automobiles.

Average earnings rose 30 percent in a decade. Gross domestic product (GDP) rose by a third… This great economic and lifestyle revolution for Americans of modest means happened with basically no guidance from the federal government. The government largely stayed out of the way. 

We can dream, can’t we?

It really is time for a change.

Victor Hanson’s Statement On Special Counsel Hur’s Report

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Victor Davis Hanson’s Twitter statement on Special Counsel Hur’s report:
Biden is Too Demented to Be Found Guilty of Crimes,  But Not Too Demented to Be President? Special Counsel Robert Hur just found Joe Biden was guilty of violating national security laws in removing classified documents— after examining then Senator and Vice President Biden’s some 15-year habit of removing classified files to his offices and residences, where they were stored in unsecured fashion.
Period. End of story.
Hur then as a disinterested Special Counsel, not a local county prosecutor on a limited budget, logically would have indicted and prosecuted Biden.
It really is a jury’s decision to determine whether Biden was guilty or innocent, or whether he is pardoned/exempted by reason of dementia.
It is not the role of Hur, as a prosecutor and advocate for the state, to imagine how difficult his case might be to prove someone so incapacitated like Biden was guilty, as Hur’s own research and investigations had otherwise indicated that he was.) Is mindset, intention, or mental status a normal consideration of violations of national security laws, or is it the act itself?
So we are back to the James Comey defense: Hillary was guilty but in Lord and Savior Comey’s judgement no jury would likely convict a presidential candidate of such stature of violating national security laws. (NB:  After her reprieve, Hillary immediately claimed such extenuating circumstances were proof of her innocence! And Biden in a nanosecond likewise claimed he is now exonerated too, as was the administration’s plan all along).
Finally note the following:
1) The Left, Hur, and others believe that someone who has lost his faculties and who would not be allowed to drive a semi-truck, teach a class, diagnose a patient, argue a case, wire a house, or cook a hamburger is nevertheless fit enough to run the United States of America.
2) Note this same old/same old shocking but predictable asymmetry. Trump is a mere four years younger than Biden. The left fixated on the fact that he recently confused Nikki Hayley with Nancy Pelosi. Are we then to expect Jack Smith to follow the precedent of his fellow special counsel Hur, who was likewise appointed by Biden administration AG Merrick Garland and thus to conclude that although Trump violated the law by removing files, he seemed too confused to indict, given the likelihood of a sympathetic jury?
3) Hur himself tried to preemptively defend himself from the obvious conclusion that he extended special considerations not to indict Biden in a manner Jack Smith did not to Trump. Yet he omits that there were key differences in the two cases:
Biden had no putative right, as did Trump as President, to declassify files he took home.
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago walled and surveilled estate was far more secure than Biden’s rickety garage.
Biden had stored files for over a decade not less than two years.
Biden’s attorneys came forward just days before Smith was appointed on November 18, 2022. So it was not altruism that prompted their confession after Biden’s years of secretly hiding such illegality, but rather fear that Trump would soon be hounded for a ”crime” of which Biden was found out to be long guilty. So they went public to preempt that charge and falsely claim civic virtue.
This is just more of a long, disgusting pattern of biased applications of the law: Jan 6 vs 2020 May to October deadlier and more violent riots; election denialism of Trump versus Stacey Abrams’s nonstop claims of being the real governor of Georgia; “insurrection” called for in Trump’s speech vs Kamala Harris’s threats that the 2020 riots (“protests”) would and should keep going; the Trump 2020 election gambit versus the 2016 Leftwing coordinated effort to leverage electors into renouncing their states’ popular vote mandates. And so on.
No Department of Justice in our history has ever done more to undermine Americans’ confidence in the fair and equitable application of justice.
This is not the America we grew up in.
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It’s Not Safe To Be A Grandma In The Netherlands

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On Friday, The Guardian posted an article about a recent court case in the Netherlands that resulted in a change to the law.

The article reports:

Doctors euthanising a patient with severe dementia may slip a sedative into their food or drink if there are concerns they will become “disturbed, agitated or aggressive”, under a change to the codes of practice in the Netherlands.

The review committee for cases of euthanasia refreshed its guidance in response to the case of a former nursing home doctor, Marinou Arends, who was prosecuted for murder and cleared after putting a sedative in her 74-year-old patient’s coffee before giving a lethal injection.

Arends was given a written reprimand by the Dutch medical board for acting on the basis of two “advance directives” in which the patient said only that she wished to die when she considered the time was right.

But in April the supreme court ruled that no laws had been broken and dismissed the medical board’s decision, ruling that if a patient is no longer capable of giving assent, a doctor need not take a literal interpretation of an advance directive if the circumstances do not match the eventual scenario.

In response to the court, Jacob Kohnstamm, the chair of the euthanasia review committee, said his body needed to update its code for doctors involved in euthanasia.

The new code says that in cases where a patient has advanced dementia, “it is not necessary for the doctor to agree with the patient the time or manner in which euthanasia will be given”.

The article concludes:

Since 2002, doctors have been able to euthanise adults in the Netherlands in cases where it is regarded as a voluntary and well-considered request in the context of unbearable suffering from which there is no prospect of improvement or alternative remedy.

Last year there were 6,361 cases of euthanasia in the Netherlands – just over 4% of the country’s total deaths. Of these, 91% were in cases of terminal medical conditions. The remainder of the cases involved severe psychiatric illness, including dementia.

This month the Dutch government said it would change the regulations to permit doctors to euthanise terminally ill children aged between one and 12, after months of debate within the ruling coalition government.

The health minister, Hugo de Jonge, said a change in regulations was necessary to help “a small group of terminally ill children who agonise with no hope and unbearable suffering”.

No one wants to see a child or an elderly person suffer. However, I am not sure that gives anyone the right to take an innocent life. This is frightening to me. I hope it frightens you as well. I do wonder how doctors reconcile this with their Hippocratic Oath.