I made an appointment with the Dr. for Gma and Gpa to discuss this dementia thing cause Gpa is constantly asking me questions about it. So I thought I'd let the Dr explain things to him.
So we get in there and, of course, Gma takes a bunch of time talking about things that she's already discussed with him.
Then he turns to Gpa and asks what he's there for. "Me? I'm fine. I don't need anything!" Grrr. So I tell the Dr we need to discuss dementia. Gpa jumps in and says, "Yea, Marv said I had dementia cause he saw the way I walk and said that told him I had it." Dr. Brown gives me a sympathetic glance. Then he says, "Ok Frank. I'm going to give you a test and that will tell us if you have dementia. I'm going to tell you 3 words and have you repeat them back to me. Then I'm going to have you draw a picture of a clock. When we're done, I'll have you repeat the 3 words back to me. OK?"
So he tells him the 3 words and I about slugged him. He was just jerking my chain. I was so mad at him in that moment. This is a serious situation and I need some serious help, and he's goofing around. "Repeat back to me,
baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet." I couldn't believe it! So Gpa repeats the 3 words. Duh!
Then Dr. Brown hands him a pen and paper and has him draw a clock with the hands at 10 minutes to 2. Simple. Gpa does it in a jiffy. I'm really ticked off now!
Then the Dr. asks Gpa to repeat back the 3 words that he told him earlier. Instantly, Gpa says, "
Baseball,........" That's it! My jaw dropped to the floor. I guess that's why its a conclusive little test. He could NOT remember the other 2 words. Amazing! I had to forgive Dr. Brown really fast. Even living with Gpa and knowing how bad he's getting, I was sure he could remember those well known words. Nope! Next he just asked him if he wanted pills or a patch. Gpa didn't even object to having a "prescription" (that dirty little word).
The other amazing thing is that Gma brought up how Gpa sometimes falls. Dr. Brown asked a few questions about how he doesn't try to catch himself, doesn't even know he's falling, etc., and said that it isn't part of the dementia. It's caused by small strokes! That explains alot. So then on the way home Gpa says, "So all I have to do now is have one of those small strokes be a big one and I don't have to worry about all this anymore." Yup, I guess he's right.
Ah! Its a great life, if you don't weaken or waken!
