Man goes on quite a trip....

[HALEY]

how did he get back into the united states without a passport? Makes you wonder don't it. and twice to boot.. if i read the story right

[DianaB]

I can't believe how far this man had traveled! You would have thought that the family would have realized how serious his problem was before all of this took place, at least enough to have him stay with a family member while the wife was out of town. Thank goodness he made it back home safely!!

[judy]

That is a very sweet story, but I have to agree with Diana on this. His family
should have made accommodations for him. He's lucky that all those people were so caring!

[gja1000]

I work with lots of people with Alzheimer's disease. Of course, I haven't a clue about this particular situation - but he could have been functioning perfectly well (for someone with memory problems) prior to this incident.

Persons with Alzheimer's do not handle change well, so maybe this was the first time in a while that she was gone from the home or gone for a longer period of time. This time, the stress of her being gone, may have sent him over the edge. I suspect the family did not have a clue how he would react to his wife being gone.

He called his sister to say he was coming to visit her - I think he didn't want to be alone, or he was scared. Persons with Alzheimer's depend on family caregivers to give them a sense of safety and knowing that everything is OK.

It also says he was recently diagnosed, so he probably was doing pretty well, but something about his wife leaving, triggered the need to GO! Many people with dementia live alone, much farther along in the disease and they do OK, as long as nothing changes. But when it does change, look out!

The fact that he traveled so far and in such odd directions is not surprising at all. The more he travelled the more stressful it all became and stress precipitates confusion. So, the more he travelled to unfamiliar places, the more stress and upset he felt and the more stressed he was, the more confused he was. That's why he ran out of gas - he couldn't process that he needed to get gas for the car. It's all very typical for someone with Alzheimer's disease who is under stressful conditions

[judy]

That poor guy! He must have been terrified. I can understand now why his family didn't know to make plans for him. You should be a nursing teacher Gayle!

Thank God he was helped by kind strangers.

[DianaB]

Thanks, Gayle, for letting me know that.

Judy, I think that Gayle does do some teaching or leads some classes or something.

We have a large family in our church that the mom and almost all of her siblings had dementia (they never called it Alzheimer's, I think for insurance reasons). It was really sad because two of the sisters came to church and they couldn't remember any one, even their kids, but when they would get together they would kiss and hug each other. It was like deep in their mind they still knew each other. It was so sad to watch them both fail. They're both gone now, but I know that their family has to worry about getting it too.

[gja1000]

Judy! I AM a nursing teacher!!! LOL! I also do research with persons with Alzheimer's disease and their family caregivers.

Many doctors won't "make" a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), because a TRUE diagnosis of AD can only be made by a brain biopsy. Of course, we can't do brain biopsies of brains (when the person is living) so doctors rule out everything else that could be causing the confusion. There are about 100 things that can mimic AD, from depression to vitamin deficiency to dehydration to medication side effects to hearing loss, etc etc.

Thus, many doctors make a diagnosis of "Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type" or just simply dementia. AD may be familial, meaning inherited. There is a type of early onset AD (early being in the 50's or 60's years of age) that is highly inherited. But familial AD is really very rare. Diana, that is probably what you saw in the women from your church. And yes, they most likely DID, at some level, remember each other when they met at church. We really don't KNOW what people with dementia remember, we only know what they CAN'T do or say. We don't know what they are thinking or feeling inside, because they can't tell us in the normal way with words. But you could see from their actions that they "remembered" each other, even if they couldn't interact in the usual way. After working with many many persons with AD, they do know much more than they can convey!

We really don't know what causes AD, it is probably a multifocal disease, caused or precipitated, by a variety of factors. That's why it is so hard to determine the cause, because it is multi-focal, and we all have very individual lives and experiences and are exposed to a variety of different environmental things.

There is a group of nuns who have donated their brains to AD research when they die. This research is very important because these nuns have all lived together in the same environment, eaten the same food, engaged in the same activities all their lives. We may actually get some clues from their gift to research. From their brains, we are learning that some ofthem with no AD symptoms, have brains that look like they should have AD symptoms. Why is that - we don't have a clue. All brains of persons with AD symptoms look pretty much the same - but why do some brains look like AD, but the person has no symptoms? It is a mystery.

There are many theories - use it or lose it - keep the brain stimulated via interactions, education, brain-stimulating exercises, etc. Some think it is related to physical activity - the more physically active, the less AD. One finding from the Nun study is that the nuns who had more sophisticated writing skills earlier in life - have brains that show signs of AD, but the nun had no symptoms. What does that mean? Go figure!

Now, I bet that is more than you wanted to know!!! LOL!!!