Visiting the Doctor - Part 2 - Geriatrics Specialist

At the geriatrics specialist, mom was given a standard array of tests used for diagnosing alzheimer's. Some of the questions she answered easily, like her address, and how long she had been married, and when she was born, what city she lived in, how many children she had and their names. Other things, like what day, month and year she couldn't answer correctly, and when asked who the Prime Minister was, she said Diefenbaker (PM in 1957 to 1963, when he lost that year's election, and died in 1979). Well, he died more than 20 years previously, so she was just a little behind the times.

She also could not draw the standard clock. One of the tests they used was to hand her a piece of paper and asked her to draw a clock face, with the numbers 1 to 12 in the proper spots.  She didn't get all the numbers in the right spot - most of them were correct, but two of them were not. She also wrote the number "2" backwards, which I felt was odd, and when asked to draw hands on the clock to make it say ten to two (1:50) she couldn't do it.

There were many more questions - some she could answer (mostly those far in the distant past), but anything within the last few years were more difficult for her, and her answers were often wrong.

The specialist confirmed the doctor's diagnosis, and indicated she was in the early stages. He said that for a while yet she could probably live on her own, with daily visits from a Personal Support Worker, and occasional visits from a Registered Nurse.

As long as she ate an appropriate amount of food, and could manage groceries and finances, she should be okay. We left his office with a different prescription for anti-depressants. He felt the ones prescribed by her family doctor were probably not the best ones to give an alzhiemer's patient, since they themselves could cause some confusion and mild fugue states.

To say that this concerned me would be an understatement, and I was somewhat dubious about the success of this. Still, I had spent months away from my home and family, and I simply wanted to go home, even just for a little while.

We made the arrangements for a visiting nurse - the first week would entail two visits, the next week would be one visit, and thereafter it would be one visit every two weeks for another month. If her  health improved (the malnutrition) the visiting nurse wouldn't be needed, provided we could ensure she visited her doctor every month. That, we could and would do.