Most of us are familiar with estate planning. Perhaps on your own or with the recommendation of your financial advisor or CPA, you’ve met with an attorney to create a plan to ensure that your hard-earned assets are distributed according to your wishes after you die. The typical estate plan…

You may have to get them in the back door. One of the hardest moments caring for my Mom was the day she said, “Just let me die here.” My father had passed away from Alzheimer’s three years before. After devotedly caring for him for ten years, she had started…

Losing Your Loved One and Yourself in a Dementia-Filled World. When you’re caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s or other dementia, two kinds of “disappearings” occur. First you watch your loved one slowly disappear. Even in the early stages you hear the voice stammer as the mind reaches for…

Experts disagree and the FDA’s own advisory committee says “No.” UPDATE June 7, 2021: The Food and Drug Administration today approved the drug aducanumab, marking the agency’s first approval of a medication for Alzheimer’s disease since 2003. …

Facing Dementia and Physical Decline Differently. My mother ultimately refused physical therapy. Not just one day or two, but every time the therapist came into her room. Her care facility was costing us thousands of dollars each month out of pocket. Even though my father had earlier suffered and passed…

One of the first things my mother noticed about my father’s behavior in the early days of what we would later understand was early-onset Alzheimer’s was that he hid things. Cash. His wallet. Sometimes his keys. My mother would usually be able to find these things again, but eventually his…

I was sitting with my 83-year-old mother in the hospital when a nurse came in to check her vitals. She had been there a few days with an infection and was on a course of antibiotics. The nurse said she had a fever. I didn’t think much of it at…

If your loved one lives near a hospital, it’s wise to choose a doctor with hospital privileges. Many hospitals now employ “hospitalists” — doctors who work for the hospital and treat you only during your hospital stay. For younger patients, this might be okay, especially for acute matters like broken…

The last evening out my parents shared came a few years after my father’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. I think somehow my Mom knew this might be the last so she planned a lovely night at a special restaurant. Halfway through dinner Daddy looked at Mom and said, “You are the most beautiful woman in the room.” Then he said, “Do you know my wife Dorothy?” She called me after dinner devastated. “He doesn’t know who I am.”