Mom is Diagnosed with Dementia

My mother Leny, is 87. She has always been a loving, caring person and I only have fond memories of my childhood. She was widowed in 1985 and grew to be very independent and active in ministry for almost 20 years. It seems rather sudden looking back to 2003 that she was showing signs of dementia. She admitted that she left the stove on, lost her way home, and was forgetting appointments. She was NEVER a good driver but managed to get around very pretty well up to that point. Proud she had never been in an accident. We are convinced she was surrounded by angels. But an accident did happen...not her fault and no one was hurt but some major damage was done to her little white Corolla.

About that time my brother and I had taken her to her doctor, sharing concerns of memory loss.
Her Doctor administered the typical test for Dementia/Alzheimer’s and mom did not do well. In fact, the Dr. suggested Mom's driving privileges be taken away. By law, the Dr. had to file a report to the DMV. So as her car was in repair we took the test for the elderly at the DMV and to no surprise, she failed. "May I see your license?" asked the lady...my mom proudly gave her the license and she than said "I will have to keep this, you failed the test and you no longer can drive a vehicle". My mother cried. The beginnings of losing her independence. It was so sad.

A funny thing happened on the way home. It was about a 40 minute drive. She started saying it was time for her to move into a residence with other people. She did not feel good about living alone anymore. We stopped to tour a place and she fell in love with it and we called my brother and she signed the papers to move in. This was a big step but a good one.

I have to back up just a bit in my story. After the first visit with the doctor for the testing, I had started my mother on a nutritional supplement. It seemed to make a big difference. She was thinking more rationally. Our followup visit with the doctor confirmed a huge improvement on her score. So I wanted to stress for others to seek nutritional supplementation for your elderly parents and even yourselves. It's a big passion of mine.

My mom had happy years in this new facility. It was independent senior living. Her meals were provided for and there were activities. The 'Red Hat Ladies' were one of her favorites. She did very well until...the delusions began.