Senior Care Benefits When Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
Dell never expected he would one day be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Nobody in his family had ever experienced dementia before. There was no family history, and since he was pretty mentally engaged and active most of his adult life, it was simply something he never thought twice about. As a senior, care options were not something to think about. But with the diagnosis, senior care help would be helpful.
At the time of diagnosis, Dell understood something was wrong. He was confused more often than any other time in his life. There were memories he knew were right there, at the edge of his consciousness, but he couldn’t bring them forward.
When he started having difficulty remembering certain people in his life, people he knew that he knew, that’s when he understood something was going wrong in his mind. It took a while for him to finally build up the courage to go to his doctor and the diagnostic testing was pretty intense, but once he received that formal diagnosis, it felt as though the wind had just been knocked out of the sails of his life.
At first, Dell assumed he would be able to take care of himself still.
Well, he could. He was still able to manage most of his basic care without any help from anyone else. His wife was ready to step in and provide whatever support she could, but at 74 years of age herself, the physical toll was going to be tremendous.
In the beginning, his children stopped by for visits more frequently. His son, who lived on the other side of the country, came in for a few visits during the first year. His daughter, who lived a few towns over, was much more engaged and stopped by relatively frequently, which was only once or twice every few weeks.
His wife did a splendid job supporting him during those initial months and years. Yet, he could tell it was taking a physical and emotional toll on her. He didn’t want that for her, not at this stage in her life.
That’s when he looked into senior care options.
What he wanted to focus on the most was the an affordable option and one where he could remain at home. When it comes to senior care, there are numerous options available, but more people prefer to remain home, if at all possible, even when they are diagnosed with certain diseases, like Alzheimer’s.
A person who moves through the different stages of Alzheimer’s is somebody who will need constant care in the years ahead. It is not something they can do on their own and it is not beneficial to expect an aging spouse to look after them and support them, either.
Dell focused on senior care in his years after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It allowed him to remain home for longer than he otherwise might have been able to. It also protected his wife from the physical rigors that supporting somebody with Alzheimer’s can impose.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering Senior Care Services in Gray GA please contact the caring staff at Angels of Mercy Private Homecare Services, Inc. today at 478-745-5111.
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