JOAN’S BLOG – TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2012 – TROPICAL STORM ISAAC COLLIDES WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

As most of you are aware, I live on the Southeast coast of Florida. “Not a hurricane” Isaac spent his time meandering around off of the West coast of Florida yesterday. Unfortunately, he was so large, that he managed to affect the entire State of Florida.

As you are also aware, those with Alzheimer’s Disease do best with routine. My husband’s life is smooth, calm, and happy as long as I make sure his routine is not interrupted. He does not do well with change. Yesterday morning, as is the case every Monday morning, my dining room table was set up for his Alzheimer Buddies’ dominoes game. The guys were due at my house at 12:30 PM. After 12 straight hours of rain that showed signs only of increasing, not letting up, monstrous thundering, and crackling lightening, I decided it would be best to cancel the game.

Ordinarily that would have prompted whining, complaining, and arguing on his part about how he likes dominoes, and he does not want to miss it. I will give Isaac credit – he must have been bad enough that even my AD husband agreed to the change in plans with no argument. I made sure the flashlights were working, and placed one on his walker, just in case. So far, so good.

At 1 PM, he had just returned to his lounge chair in the den from a trip to the bathroom. As he sat down, a siren went off on my cell phone. ??????????????  I looked and it was a tornado warning. It said to seek shelter NOW. That would be in either our master bedroom closet or master bath, neither of which is large enough for more than one person at a time.  My plan was to have him sit in the bathroom on his walker, and I would sit in the closet. This did not go over well with him…..AT ALL. He started to argue that his knees hurt; he didn’t want to move; he couldn’t move; the hurricane impact windows would protect us, etc. Then he became angry, calling me names, and whining. Only because he does not want to be away from me, did he follow me into the bedroom. The best I could do was get him to sit on the bed facing the bathroom, while I sat in the bathroom. It was over in 10 minutes, and we returned to the den, where he calmed down. He always forgets that he was upset, angry, or belligerent, so he was now happy and content.

At 5 PM, the lights went out. I was the one who panicked at that time, because I remember how impossible he was to deal with when we lost power last year -his lift chair didn’t work; the A/C didn’t work, and it was dark. We ended up having to stay in a hotel for 2 nights, which threw him so off of his routine that he was miserable, whiny, and argumentative the entire time. Luckily, this time it was a tripped circuit, which I fixed in 2 minutes.

I consider us very fortunate that we only had one incident during yesterday’s storm, but it underscores my warnings to you. It is IMPERATIVE to have a disaster plan in place. In our case, if the power had gone out, we would have sought shelter in the ALF next door. That is part of my plan. Expecting Sid to get upset and be difficult to deal with is also part of the plan, as is for me to stay calm and give directions, not try to reason with him or answer his incessant arguments.

If you have not already done so, please read the resource on the left side of the website titled “Disaster Preparation”. It applies to blizzards as well as hurricanes. Keep supplies in one place; have an evacuation plan; and brace yourself to deal with “broken routine” behavior.

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©Copyright 2012 Joan Gershman                                                                                                                                
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