One of my favorite patients, a widow in her 70′s, remarried 5 years ago to a wonderful man. They were both in good health and for a few years had a ball. They traveled, kept up with kids and grand-kids, and absolutely enjoyed one another. Things were going well until she started showing signs of…
Category Archives: Dementia
Who cares?
I am thinking of a dear patient of ours who lives in a memory care facility here in North Texas. When she came on the Texas Hospice service she could walk but only with assistance. Now she is wheelchair confined and requires someone to feed her three times a day. She is exhibiting the classic…
Remember PlasticMan?
Certain moments, achievements, difficulties, and things like toys mark our childhood. When I was a boy, The Six Million Dollar Man, GI Joe, and PlasticMan were big items. PlasticMan looked like a normal person until someone pulled his extremities. He was made of stuff that could stretch across our kitchen. There have been many studies…
What about all these medications?
Some of our patients come to us taking 5 or more medications. We try to take them off as many as we can. There are lots of good reasons for stopping medicines. Many patients, particularly those suffering from dementia, have a hard time swallowing pills. And studies show that over-medication is a common cause of…
Graduating from hospice
A small percentage of Texas Hospice patients do not follow the normal, expected course of decline toward death. Instead, they return to good health after receiving our care. These are our graduates. A good example was a patient of ours who suffered from dementia. After receiving daily hospice aid visits, music therapy, a cleaner bed…
My yoke is easy
One of our nurses told me about a recent fulfilling experience. A precious man, still young in his 60′s, and preparing to fulfill with his wife some of their dreams of world travel, fell victim to an aggressive dementia. The wife noticed some memory loss in her husband, and within 6 months he was in the advanced…
The Long Goodnight
Last week, one of our Texas Hospice nurses mentioned a good bit of wisdom and a couple of telling stories about dementia care. Here they are: 1) Within the day-in day-out struggle of dementia care, family caregivers often forget to interact with their loved ones. It is understandable, given the load the caregiver is carrying. But…
