A media guy on TV this morning said that Gene Hackman's death will highlight the need for more Alzheimer's research. Really? The guy was 95.

Alzheimer's seems like a mystery stuck in a puzzle wrapped in an enigma. To sort of allude to Winston Churchill 's take on the Soviet Union.

A Right at Home worker took my Mom an Alzheimer's patient to get out once in a while a few years back. This worker was one of our best. This time they are at the Walmart on CR466 and at the checkout. My Mom for some reason starting yelling she was being kidnapped. Our worker left the items at checkout except for the one thing she had had time to get. They went out the door and were followed by a retired law enforcement officer in plain clothes. He demanded to know who the worker was. Anyone can claim to be a police officer so our worker said I do not need to give you any information. The retired LEO called the cops and our brave and brilliant worker called Right at Home. Right at Home called me. And they were soon back at home. I think Right at Home got the police turned back.


We have had a lot of workers from Right at Home who are very good at dealing with Alzheimer's patients. Some of the public seem clueless.

But I do get the impression that the medical community is only guessing about Alzheimer's. They really do not know much about it.

Some of the stuff that comes out of my Mother's mouth is hilarious. Some sad. Some tragic.

Alzheimer is a horrible disease but there seems to be a lot of progress being made slowing down its progress.

Some of the pills work some of the time. Sundowning can be extremely difficult to deal with. The facilities here in the Villages also have problems from what I have heard from various workers. A lot of our Right at Home workers have experience with various Villages' area Memory Care places.

If you are dealing with Alzheimer's patients you often are also encountering sundowning.

There are support groups locally who can help with people coping with caring for Alzheimer's family members. I have not used them but others have mentioned them. Think I saw them in referenced in some of the Villages' meetings.

I took care of Mom and she had sundowners for about 6 months. Very sad to witness. She lived for 17 years with this disease. Now I down to Dad who is 92.

My Dad passed a few years back from septic shock. He had C-Diff develop from complications from antibiotics given at a Villages' Rehab. He got septic from the C-Diff at the Villages Regional Hospital and passed. C-Diff requires quarantine. So, we could not see him for a week or so.

Mom has had some kind of Alzheimer's for about 14 years but participated in a five year drug trial starting about 14 years ago. She must have been on the working drug and not the placebo as it really slowed the Alzheimer's down. The study ended but she did not want to start on a different one about 9 years ago. They would not know if they would be getting the same drug and had no idea if they were taking the placebo or not. And they did not give them the name of the drug as far as I know. She has had serious problems with Alzheimer's the past three years or so.


She has only had a few really hard sundowning events. But they can last for days.


They can be very entertaining but sometimes terrifying. Or both.

It is critical to take a course of Probiotic after a course of Antibiotic...Especially as we age.

Alzheimers is basically type 3 diabetes...Stop eating carbohydrates and plant seed oils!

Mom was doing a clinical test at 1st. We never knew what she got but she lasted a lot longer than expected. It was sad to watch such a long, slow decline. I am glad she only had sundowners for a short time.

I only hope Dad never has to go to the hospital. I keep him sheltered as possible from germs.

A friend of mine who recently had a stroke, bought a watch that will call 911 if you fall. It actually works as he fell at the square the other night and it called. Too bad Gene didn't have one. As far as what his wife died from, I chaperoned a school trip years ago to Santa Cruz island and was warned of hantavirus. I didn't want to go but thought I was over reacting. Apparently, it is extremely dangerous and we were lucky no one contracted it.

It really is a shame that they had no family that cared about them.

Might be difficult for some to have a famous family member. Would apply to both Gene Hackman as well as other family members. Some famous people probably would not take kindly to criticism from family members. It would be worse if you could not remember what was said five minutes before given Alzheimer's effects on relationships.