Battling Alzheimer

I want to take a moment to talk about your emergency plan as a caregiver. Everyone should have an emergency plan. It’s especially important for families with young children, families with older children who may be away at college and caregiving families with loved ones living independently, in a facility or in the caregiver’s home. Hopefully, you are saying, “well, that’s just about everyone.” Because that is my point. EVERYONE should have an emergency plan. However, for this post, I’ll specifically address emergency plans as related to caregivers of the elderly and infirmed.

Emergency plan

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Battling Alzheimer’s Disease and its Compatriot Wandering

By nature, I am a pretty even tempered person. Not much gets under my skin. However, my mother’s wandering really got to me. She’d gather her coat and purse, and head for the door. By the time she had taken 10-15 steps, my normally 96/54 blood pressure had skyrocketed to stroke levels and I was s-t r-e-s-s-e-d.

No matter how much I talked, explained, used logic and my persuasion skills, she remained intent on going. Sometimes, she’d slip out of the door, without my knowing, and my toddler would announce to me that grandma was going, “bye, bye.”

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