Man goes on quite a trip....

[Marilyn]

Here's a story I just had to share. Thank goodness it has a happy ending!!

http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/847/story/359376.html

[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!!!

[DianaB]

I found what you had to say very interesting, Gayle. I didn't know that Alzheimer's was in your area of expertice!!! Your work sounds really interesting!!!

[gja1000]

Originally Posted by DianaB

I found what you had to say very interesting, Gayle. I didn't know that Alzheimer's was in your area of expertice!!! Your work sounds really interesting!!!

Well now, I can't let out all my secrets, can I??? LOL!

[Marilyn]

So, you're a nursing teacher in Austin, and I have a daughter in Austin trying to be a nurse. She's attending Texas State, because she loves it there, but their nursing program will be in Round Rock and starts in 2011, I think. She's hoping to move to San Marcos or Wimberly and go to UTMB in the fall of '09. If she can get in. She thinks she won't have a problem. Hope she's right. She wants to get into a BSN program, and eventually work in labor and delivery. She's thinking she will eventually go for her masters so she can be a nurse practicioner. We're hoping she makes it!!!

[gja1000]

Originally Posted by Marilyn

So, you're a nursing teacher in Austin, and I have a daughter in Austin trying to be a nurse. She's attending Texas State, because she loves it there, but their nursing program will be in Round Rock and starts in 2011, I think. She's hoping to move to San Marcos or Wimberly and go to UTMB in the fall of '09. If she can get in. She thinks she won't have a problem. Hope she's right. She wants to get into a BSN program, and eventually work in labor and delivery. She's thinking she will eventually go for her masters so she can be a nurse practicioner. We're hoping she makes it!!!

Yep, that's where I am and what I do! Good luck to your daughter! I'm a little confused though, how will she go to UTMB if she lives in San Marcos or Wimberly? Do they have an extension or online program? I would tell her to check out UTMB's program very closely - the rumor is that there will be big cutbacks in the nursing program due to the hurricane damage and the reduction in beds at the medical center in Galveston.

She's right on target to go to a BSN program - and she will want her master's at some point. If she stays in labor and delivery, she'll have to be a Family Nurse Practitioner as there is not a practitioner program for maternity nursing exclusively. However, the family nurse practitioner program does cover pregnant women and newborns.

[Marilyn]

Gayle, It's UTMB in San Antonio that she wants to attend. She's spoken with them, since Hurricane Ike, and feels that she has a good chance of getting into their program. She thinks UT would be out of reach for her. That's where she wanted to go, but she told us she would have to go to UT and retake her pre-req's there which would add more time to her schooling. They won't accept the credits she has from Texas State, but UTMB will.

Her husband's family is in Buda, and she and SIL currently live near SouthPark Meadows. San Marcos/Wimberly is about as far from his parents as she can get him to move, so she will have to commute to San Antonio.

Sometimes I don't think we will ever get our children out of school. Our oldest has 5 years of college already and is now at UTSA studying mechanical engineering. She has about 3 more years to get her BACHELORS!! 8 years for a BACHELORS!! No wonder I can't retire anytime soon!!

Our future nurse graduated from high school in 2005, so she's been at it 3 years and only changed her major once so far. She's dead set on nursing, so I think she will stick with this.

[gja1000]

I'm glad to hear that she is dead set on nursing because it is such a great career and WE NEED MORE NURSES. Not only do I love being a nurse, but there are a zillion different things you can do in your career. And the educational possibilities are endless and with increased education comes increased possibilities!!! (oh and more money too!)

UT is just crazy difficult for ANYONE to get into. My daughter went to Texas State (then SWT) - she could have never gotten into UT - didn't even try. She did transfer to UT after a year of good grades at SWT, but she didnt' like it. She was in Elementary Education and SWT has a much better program. So she went back to SWT and was able to finish at their extension program in Round Rock. Oh and it only took her 7 years to graduate! But she only went part time since she (oops) had a baby during the summer between her freshman and sophmore year and then went parttime for the next 6 years.

I know things will work out for your daughter. She'll get in and get through. A BSN program is a very rigorous program, but if she is really interested in it, it will be fine, and she will love it!

[Marilyn]

Gayle, thank you for the encouragement!! At this point, we need it. It took me almost 5 years to get my engineering degree not including the two years I dropped out. Majored in biology for two years, dropped out for 2 years, returned with a vingence to get the engineering and finally made it. Graduated from high school in '72, graduated from college Dec '78.

I think Melissa will get her nursing with about the same amount of schooling that I had, maybe a little more. Our other daughter is approaching the point of being a career student. She seems very committed to what she is doing now, and we have told her that this is it. We will help her get her engineering degree, but if she changes majors again, she is totally on her own.

I've spoken with so many parents these days who are having the same problem. So many of our young people don't know what they want to do, and I think they just don't have a vision of their goal. They have no motivation. It's harder to define careers today with all the technology. Choices in the past were more clear, fireman, policeman, nurse, teacher, engineer, doctor. Technology and our developing society have blurred the lines, and added so many other options. It's difficult for them to decide. Also, many of them want to do something that will make money and make a difference, but just don't know what that is. Our society is moving more and more to vaguely defined desk jobs.

Not as many are getting married as in the past, or staying married, so their life goals are not the same as in the past. House, family, a dog, two cars in the garage isn't appealing anymore to many of our youth. Most of the people I work with that are in their 30's and 40's don't live like that anymore. They are hopping from girlfriend or boyfriend or wife or husband to the the next, and having children with some of them along the way. Their lives are sooo complicated.

Most of my generation is trying to raise up solid stable citizens with solid stable jobs and families, but sometimes you feel like it's a moving target.

I'll get off the soapbox now. This is a forum, not a blog.