If I had to state whether I prefer to live in the past, the present, or the future, I would have to say that it’s somewhere between present and future. I like to plan. Looking ahead to trips and outings sustains me when I am feeling swamped. A fun event on the horizon keeps me moving forward. It’s been harder to plan like this during COVID, though, and I miss it.
When it comes to Alzheimer’s care, planning for the future isn’t a fun venture. I think it is necessary, though, to be prepared, so that you won’t be overwhelmed if and when devastating events happen. Knowing that Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are progressive, even if the path isn’t straightforward and predictable, you know that you will have to plan for certain eventualities. Understanding the stages of Alzheimer’s disease and how long each stage lasts, is a beginning step in planning for the future.
Early in the disease state, I met with a financial advisor, our lawyer, and accountant to strategize our financial situation, running different scenarios regarding future care for Harvey. I discussed how these professionals helped me in this blog post. Making these calls and doing this work beforehand helped to prevent a financial disaster in the future.
I knew from the beginning that the two decision points that would be most crucial were deciding when Harvey couldn’t be home alone and when, or if, he needed to be placed in a long term care facility. I wanted to avoid a disaster and have a plan in place for both of these eventualities before one occurred.
So what are disasters? An unsupervised loved one living with dementia can get into all sorts of trouble. Starting a fire because they forgot about a pot left on a burning stove is one. Flooding their home due to neglecting to turn off a water source is another. Wandering, on foot, or by car is another. Falls with orthopedic or head injuries is another. Hypothermia or heat stroke might be another if your loved one forgets how to properly adjust their thermostat. A financial disaster may occur if their spending isn’t monitored. The list is endless, really, and my intent is not to scare you, but to have you realize there are multiple potentially disastrous scenarios surrounding your loved one. Better to plan ahead and divert that potential than to allow it to play out and have to deal with the consequences.
My decision to hire in-home care came when Harvey wandered from our home. It wasn’t a disastrous event, but it could have been. (See story) Rather than wait to see if it happened again, I began the search for paid caregivers. The search did not go smoothly, and it took several trials of using companies and individuals to finally hit upon the right caregivers. If I had waited, even more time, and possible disasters, would have occurred. Once I found the two perfect caregivers though, and Harvey was safe and content, I relaxed.
And started planning for the next step, which I will discuss next week.