Stroke Warning Signs

Gladys brought this information home from the adult day center that she attends and I thought it was good information to share. It is from the American Stroke Association.

Whether the stroke is your own or that of a friend, parent, child, spouse or loved one, your life is affected. Today there are a treatments that can reduce the risk of death or disability from stroke, that’s why it’s so important to know the warning signs and to call 9-1-1 immediately if you or someone else experiences them.

Stroke Warning Signs

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding

Call 1-888-4stroke
Visit: www.strokeassociation.org

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Lighter Side of Caregiving

These are just a few things that I find humorous in my life as a caregiver.  Some of them were not funny at the time, but they are now.  Gladys doesn’t remember my name, she calls me Nichole (my daughter’s name).

Three years ago when we downsized, Fred and I moved to a new community of town homes.  Most of our neighbors are young professionals.  Every day I see them walking their cute little babies and their dogs.  One group walking with a baby carriage, one group walking with a leash and then you have me and Fred walking our old lady in a wheelchair.

You know you’re a caregiver when you’re out and about and Depends fall out of your purse.  Can you spell embarrassing?

My younger daughter Anita, keeps Gladys on Sundays.  Before it became a problem to bring Gladys to church, Anita took her to church one Sunday but forgot the seat to her wheel chair.  The ushers tell me it was quite a site to see Anita walking with Gladys holding on for dear life.  She got her inside to the first chair she could find.

Anita comes over occasionally on Saturdays to give me a break.  Gladys can be quiet and content all day long but as soon as Anita leaves she hollers NICHOLE.

Gladys and my husband, Fred, have a disagreement at least one a week about her orthopedic shoes.  I asked her why does she keep fussing about those shoes and she said, “those are old lady shoes.”  I said, you’re 82 years old. You are an old lady.”

Gladys can’t remember what I told her five minutes ago but she won’t go out of the house without her chewing gum.

I’ve known Gladys all of my life (literally) but she doesn’t remember my name.  She never met Stevie Wonder but she remembers his name.

Gladys will fuss if she thinks we have her stand too long, but she will stop dead in her tracks and wait until the cat decides to get up and out of her path to the bathroom.

On Saturday mornings I get up about six o’clock, go downstairs very quietly, turn on the big screen tv just loud enough to hear.  I turn on Turner Classic Movies and watch old movies until about 11:00.  As long as Gladys doesn’t hear anyone, we don’t hear a peep out of her.  But as soon as she hears the slightest movement – NICHOLE! Did I mention she has bionic hearing?

I think laughter is great medicine for keeping your sanity.  Sometimes my sense of humor is a little off-beat, but it keeps me from becoming bitter or depressed, I can find humor in almost anything.

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Peter Falks Rapid Alzheimer’s Decline After Surgery

I came across this story about Peter Falk while I was on Twitter.  I was and am a big Peter Falk fan.  I still watch his old movies and repeats of the old Columbo TV series that Peter Falk starred in during the 1960’s.   I even have several seasons of the Columbo TV series on DVD.  Of course I was saddened to learn that Mr. Falk had Alzheimer’s disease but I was equally disturbed about other elements of the story.

The main thing that caught my attention was this section from the Associated Press article:

The Emmy-winning actor slipped rapidly into dementia since a series of dental operations in late 2007, Dr. Stephen Read testified Monday, the final day of a two-day conservatorship hearing.

Read said it was unclear whether Falk’s condition worsened as a result of anesthesia or some other reaction to the operation.

Read first evaluated Falk in June 2008 before the actor was scheduled to undergo hip surgery. His dementia and apparent Alzheimer’s disease worsened after that procedure, and Read said the actor no longer remembers his signature role in the series “Columbo.”

The story’s focus is actually about Falk being placed in Conservatorship and family issues between Falk, his wife and daughter.  But the reason it caught my attention was the part about his mental deterioration following surgery.  I have a friend whose family experienced something similar.  Last summer her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease but it was in early stages.  A few months later her mother fell and broke her hip and had to have hip replacement surgery.  After the surgery, her mother’s Alzheimer’s worsened.

This begs a question that I can’t answer.  What is the correlation between the rapid progression of dementia/Alzheimer’s disease and surgery.  If there is a correlation, do you weigh the value of the surgery against the value of the patient’s mental condition?  If anyone can shed some light on this, I would really appreciate the feedback (and so would my readers).

Please ignore the registration form in the comment section, I’m trying to figure out how it got there so I can remove it.

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