Alzheimers

So, God decreed that innocent people should be put to death? Hmmmmmm Not my God!

Cheers,

Jim

 

You, I was just thinking, we haven't had a good discussion about women wearing hats in church lately. This would be a good place to start that up again. Surely it connects to dementia!

Cheers,

Jim

 

That's brings a lot of thoughts into my mind. I've always had a special interest in Alzheimer's. When I worked in nursing homes, I would dedicate as much extra time as possible to those patients. For a short while, I worked specifically in an Alzheimer's/Dementia lockdown unit.

There are so many variations in how it manifests that it's impossible to peg down the quality of life in general. I can think of four very different situations that I dealt with.

1. This lady was in her forties. She came in knowing what she had and was quite upset about it. Eventually she forgot, would only whisper a few words a few times a week. I tried to help her retain her ability to brush her teeth without swallowing the toothpaste. She started to forget, so I'd brush my teeth too and she'd silently watch, then brush her teeth, and promptly swallow the paste. Then she'd see the look of dismay on my face and bust up laughing! It at least made her smile...not much else did. I believe her quality of life was mediocre. She remained sweetheart, but from what I understood, this was not the norm for her.

2. Another lady believed she was at her workplace. She's come up to me and give me orders for her business and barter for prices. She felt valuable and productive. She rarely seemed aware that anything was wrong. That seemed like a good quality of life to me!

3. There was an elderly female who was very combative. She was repetitively stuck in a bad memory. Her young son was due to be getting off the school bus and she had received a call at work that her home was on fire. She didn't know if her son had already gone into the house or not, and she was fighting tooth and nail to go home. She would attack us, she would pick up brooms and other objects to strike us or to strike other residents, yell and scream at them, slap them, punch them, etc.. Her eyes were red-rimmed almost all the time from crying in frustration. Occasionally she would have a "good day" and believe she was in a car shop waiting for her car to be fixed, and I'd simply tell her she had 45 minutes to go before it was done. She'd sit on a bench all day with her purse, not realizing that it was hours and hours. To me, this was an extremely poor quality of life. She was in a nearly constant nightmare that she could rarely be snapped out of.

4. This was a male who had previously been the owner of a construction company. He was one of the strongest men I'd ever met. He could (and did) pick up pieces of furniture, like whole couches, and swing them at people. One time he got hold of a knife. He would attempt to be with female workers who entered his room or tried to provide care and was quite forceful. The fear that he would overwhelm a worker or enter the room of another resident and rape them was great. He was capable of causing a lot of harm. On his first day there, he managed to punch me in the face and leave me dizzy. This was on medication. His family brought him there because they didn't know what else to do, but short of being knocked unconscious, he was very dangerous.
And with him...his family had no way to deal with that. Professionally, there was no way to deal with that.

So what is merciful? What is right or wrong?
I do believe that some people's deaths are hastened in certain situations for lack of other options, and that it is kept quiet.

Is that wrong?
Is it selfish to continue life in the belief that you're taking some moral high ground when that person's life is so wracked with illness that they live in a nightmare day after day, can't express if they have a migraine or if they have an excruciating pain that might be a kidney stone? When they endanger the lives of people who can't protect themselves? When they have to be stopped from raping or killing others by being watched 24/7, with the only alternative to be to put them in a prison cell to keep others safe?

Are we being loving and compassionate by letting their lives continue in this fashion?

Is that right? Is it what God wants? Is it considered killing someone if you don't do it in anger, but to keep them from living a nightmare? Or is it loving and compassionate to allow their suffering to end...which often might go on for an indefinite number of years?

It's a question I thought about long and often.
It's also one that I can't answer. I can't condemn those that may have taken a doctor up on an offer to end their loved one's life, even if something in me revolts against that concept. Something just as deep says it's an act of compassion.

Are they human? Of course. That's one problem I had with some other workers in that field. They deal with it by not recognizing the humanity in their patients. Regardless of what they are doing, while they still draw breath they deserve the best treatment. Here's a poem I wrote while working in the lockdown unit.

Why stare at my outfit or simply keep walking by
When you could see in my heart if you would just try
What do you see when you look into my face,
do you still see the dreams time has tried to erase?
While you may hope that your shift will quickly fly by
I might walk through this place with a laugh or a sigh
Wondering what circumstances have come to me
To not quite know who I am, or who you may be
At one time I raised a beautiful child like you
I too wanted hard work and hard times to be through
And while you may believe that I'm not very wise
Or can't register the caring look in your eyes
There's something within me that knows just who you are
If you're loving or cruel,if your heart's near or far
I know if I can trust you, whatever your name
I feel sad when I'm lonely, and cry when in pain
You're not just someone who must be dealt with to me
You may be the mother or child I wish to see
Take the time to look beyond that first fleeting glance
Taking your time will give you a much better chance
To see who I still am behind these faded looks
A painter? A dancer? Did I write children's books?
I may not remember it now but can't you see
You can know me much better when you look at me.

© 2005 by Gina Locke

 

Hmmmmm. Pitiful.

Go sit at a nursing home for a while. Everyone is people.

 

Marcia,

If you reread what I wrote the key words are "can appear ". I don't know anyone's heart, and wouldn't begin to pretend I do, but I can form an opinion about views based on how those views are expressed and how that appears. As to your request, I am not going to start pointing fingers, I don't believe that would be appropriate, but I will PM you with a little more specifics.

I pray you are correct and we all care deeply at the loss of all life, but we can only form opinions by peoples fruit, by their words and their actions on the subject. Maybe we can all (my self included) think a little more about things before we say or write them, for we are to be the light of the world and the world is watching us.

 

When the time comes that my memory is no more, I truly hope that people will still consider me human. I sincerely hope they remember me for what I was and how I lived. I can say it now because I also know the day will come. The one delight is that most who reach that stage of alzheimers gnerally survive about 3 years at most. There are modern medications to treat such a person.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Jim, there really aren't modern medications to treat this disease. It's not even able to be diagnosed on anything more than symptoms, because it requires slicing the brain and looking at a segment of it. Only after death and this being done can one say with 100% scientific accuracy that a person had Alzheimer's.

The medications on the market, used in combination with visual and mental stimulation to help a person stay functional (and once a skill is lost it's lost, it can't be regained) only serve to possibly slow progress. It doesn't heal. It doesn't stop it. Sedatives can help with violence if that's an issue, but sometimes the dose needed to stop it would be fatal. A sick brain doesn't respond to meds like a healthy brain.

I'm not sure where you're getting the three year average. Some people I worked with had been in the facility for ten, fifteen years. I believe the average time for a person who entered was between one and three years after their diagnosis, and the typical expectancy of someone coming in after that was about 5 to 8 years, barring they didn't get pneumonia, break a hip, have other major health issues.

 

Gina, I am well aware that diagnosis of alzheimers is based on medical history a experience only. Dementia, however, is clearly diagnosed.

I also am aware there is no cure! I am well aware of this.

There are medications to calm the person from irradic behavior and I also know that these drugs are fatal,,hence the two to three years survival rate..I am very much aware of these facts...both form experience working with people, and what I have been told about my own diagnosis at my age.

I know what is happenning in the local nursing care homes here. Plus, went through it with wife's father just a couple of years ago.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Everyone who says it's OK to kill these human beings. Everyone who supports an unjust war or capital punishment.

 

Good Lord, Have mercy on me! It must be time for bed.

Cheers,

Jim

 

God instituted capital punishment. Are you more just than God then?

And who decides if a war is unjust? You?

 

I think men should only wear black boots to church and fully polished so you can see that you have shaved in morning. I'm sure this is related to teh topic.

Cheers,

Jim:tonofbricks:

 

Lol

That post made my day, LOLOL!

 

If you are against the war, that's fine. If you do not like G. Bush, that's fine. If you can't stand Republicans, that's OK to. But please stop talking about the MURDER of Iraqi's. Our troops are not murdering anyone. They are trying to save lives. I know some innocent citizens have been killed in the war, and that is awful. But I gaurantee you that less Iraqi citizens have died in the war than would have had SH remained in power.

Please stop calling our soldiers murders.

 

http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=56962&page=2 Post #18

How do you determine a just war? What are you standards?

True

I find this somewhat offensive. You are implying that I do not follow Christ. I have never posted anything on this site that you can make this acusation. I have not posted a Pro-War post. I have not said that I am for the murder or deaths of anyone. I have simply objected to your term of "Murder" for the deaths of innocents in Iraq. If you are anti-war, good for you. I wish people were much less prone to fight. But as you make your stance of peace, you are one of the most blatently aggersive posters on this site. If you are truely seeking peace, it should start in the heart and grow from there.

 

I just had a vision of whole troops of men dressed as crows.

 

?????????????

 

You said "quit calling our soldiers murders." (you forgot the er at the end of murder)

A group of crows is called a "murder."

Yes, I am odd. :laugh:

 

Funny, there have been threads in the past when I insisted one can be eternally saved and not even know it, and many here insisted that one must have made a conscious decision with regards to salvation. Now you say those who have made a conscious profession of faith unto salvation who develop alzheimer's disease and forget about the fact that they once chose Christ can always fall on God's grace.

Ironic.