Charlotte-24 YEARS!!!! Oh my!!! God Bless You. I pray for my dh not to last that long. He never would want that. He was always a very decisive person and never thought that keeping people alive with feeding tubes and ventillators was right. He never wanted to be pitied or "looked" at as anyone less than capable. He has a living will and I support his decision. I'm not so certain that Dr Kevorkian was so wrong. I believe in mercy. One of my biggest problems is deciding when my dh acts "strangely" whether its the alz or something else. In 2004, he had his meds changed and woke up Monday am very confused. I took him to the store and he was all over the place (used to walk with me). I had to pull him along. Fianlly, in the early afternoon, I called his dr to see if it was the meds and she said to call 911-thought he was having a stroke!!! His speach had been garbled and I could not tell the difference. Low and behold, it was a stroke. Last year, he had beed out walking with his caregiver in the extreme heat. He later seemed clammy and confused. Could he be dehydrated? I could not get him to drink. Thinking back on the stroke episode, I was afraid to ignore the symptoms. I took him to a local emergency (satellite office) and after 4 hrs, they transoported him to the main hospital. They were afraid to discharge him without a neuro exam. This was hell on wheels. He had no meds all day, was agitated and out of control. I was leaving ama when they decided to "help" us (we had been 8 hrs now waiting for someone to see him). They told us (after and abdominal xray that they felt he had pneumonia!! I told them to get him his med because I was dressing him and leaving asap. I told them to get the IV out or I would and they knew they were now dealing with a crazy person. Did they move!! I took him home and the following eve, he lost his vision in his only good eye. I took him to the local VA and they kept us there for 6 hrs. His vision returned but they told me their xray showed no pneumonia (and they wonder why we get so crazy!!!) We went home. To be honest, I think he was probably ok the first day but needed to have more fluids. By delaying his meds and keeping him so agitated, they took a bad situation and made it worse. Till this day, if he is "under the weather" I hold on until I'm certain I need outside help. I can not believe the inexperience that these hospitals have with alz patients!!!! They did not know what to do with him and I was believing "they are the professionals". Well, I'm here to tell you, you will be the best "dr" she has. Forgive me for my rant but I was trying to do the best thing for him and it ended up complicating his life for nothing. I guess what I'm trying to say is we can only do the best we can. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't but we are only human.

I don't bother to take him in with TIAs, or fainting spells, or whatever they are. He's had three since last summer when our daughter took him in (at my encouragement; i was on the phone but out of town). Hospitals don't know what to do with them!!