My Mother's Journey With Dementia

In Home Dementia Assessment

My mother's doctor had ordered a home evaluation due to her dementia.  The business card basically reads, "Geriatric Care Management".

It was very tastefully done, and you could tell the woman that came went out of her way to make sure mother was comfortable.  I did truly appreciate the women that did the dementia evaluation. 

We should have the in home Dementia assessment by the end of next week, and both my brother and I got the impression it will validate our fears.

She did mention that mother is very high functioning, and yet in some very basic areas she is struggling.

The dementia assessor asked for permission to look into her refrigerator and cabinets within the kitchen.  I could tell my mother agreed thinking she truly had nothing to hide.

She has enough food for a family of 5 for 2 months, and then some.  I noticed 2 partial 1/2 gallons of milk, and both had expired last month.

After the dementia assessment was over I asked my brother to check the deep freezer downstairs, and it was in the same shape.

Tomorrow I will go back, and we will dump stuff together.



She mentions during our conversation about her diet that her microwave was broken.  My brother and I were a bit surprised because she never mentioned it.  It was less than 5 years old, but my mother has an older house so I wondered if a power surge had blown it.

As you can imagine part of the in home dementia evaluation was to ask her HOW she was cooking her food, and she mentioned that she placed it in the oven.  Mother mentioned how it didn't taste the same, and how she had been eating other things instead.  She pointed other foods out in the refrigerator, and the dementia evaluator mentioned that some of the frozen food maybe bad as well.

I checked the microwave after the dementia assessment was over, and my mother has only one plug in the area where it is at.  Her telephone was plugged in, and I started to look for the microwave plug.

It wasn't plugged in, and my mother made her excuses about that.

I unplugged the telephone, and noticed that the outlet had cracked in half.  I unplugged the phone to check the microwave functions, and I guess that is a good thing.  I mean we wouldn't have known otherwise.

We don't want to FOOL around with electric stuff broken.  YIKES!

I had brought her a phone I had around our home when her phone died within the last 2 months, and I was a bit surprised I didn't notice broken outlet when I replaced it.

My brother went to the hardware store to get materials to repair it.  We also got a surge protector, so we could plug in both the microwave and the phone together.

NOW we just need to call, and make sure she remembers the microwave is fine.

I think I will stop here for the moment, but I will mention I feel my mother is starting to get resigned to the fact she needs more help than she felt she did.  I think she was relieved that her outings were encouraged despite her dementia.  I don't know where she got the idea they were NOT in the first place.

I will continue later to tell more about the in home dementia evaluation with our mother.  Its dinner time!

Anyone else have experiences in this area?