Hi Sharon, I have been really far behind on email and other things…didn’t even eat my first bite of food until almost 10 pm tonight.
As I read about your father, it reminded me of what happens in the early stages of Lewy Body Dementia. With LBD, the bouts of confusion or doing things out of the ordinary are few and far between. With your dad not being able to say what happened to his lip, it could be result of orthostatic blood pressure that is a common symptom of LBD. A lot of times, the person with LBD will not know what happened and then suddenly afterward at some point will have some story about what happened even though today he does not know. For example, my mom was upset when I was in the hospital and she called me and said that she couldn’t find her keys. I told her that I would help find them when I got home. I got home and because I just had back surgery, I really couldn’t scour the house for the keys. After a few days, she started telling me that she was in the garage and she dropped the keys and they flew behind the washer. She told that story over and over once she had said it the first time. The hallucination that she had with how the keys got lost became a memory in her mind just as if it truly had happened. I did find the keys in her bedroom in her robe pocket, so the garage story was a hallucination. You may be asking why I am writing this. My mom had LBD and in the early stages I thought she just had a bad night’s sleep every couple of months. When she was diagnosed with this disease…something that I had never heard of, I had a lot of learning to do. I still read the posts on the Yahoo Group for LBD Caregivers and I am now the facilitator for a Lewy Body Dementia Caregiver Support Group here in the Las Vegas Valley. The most important thing to know is, if your dad or anyone else you suspect might have LBD, there are some drugs that are normally given for Alzheimer’s that react negatively on persons with LBD. Some, like my mom had, cause irreversible damage and ultimately speed up the death of that person. I don’t want to scare you, but the story of his falling just struck a familiar note with me. Your Mom may not see all the signs because she is there with him most of the time and she may also attribute some small things to lack of sleep, etc. I do hope that your dad does not have LBD, but I just can’t do harm by alerting people of the dangers of some drugs. LBD is a disease where the person has fluctuating cognition, unlike Alzheimer’s where once the person is confused, they do not get unconfused. If you, or anyone else reading this post, should want more information about LBD, please feel free to contact me directly at [email protected] From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nancy Lucky Sent: Monday, February 07, 2011 3:38 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] My Dad (OT) Sharon, My Dad has Alzheimer's and is quickly going down fast. He is now in diapers and probably does not have much time to live, but unlike your Dad it will be a blessing when he goes as he has no life anymore. I will say a prayer for you dad - that is the strangest thing I have heard too. Nancy and the girls When you are gifted... give; when you learn... teach Nancy, Abbey-Rose and Maggie-Mae --- On Mon, 2/7/11, Mare <[email protected]> wrote: From: Mare <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] My Dad (OT) To: [email protected] Date: Monday, February 7, 2011, 12:51 PM Prayers for you and your Father Sharon. Best, Mare -------Original Message------- From: Sharon Norman <http://us.mc819.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]> Date: 2/7/2011 2:35:46 AM To: [email protected] <http://us.mc819.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[email protected]> Subject: [Chihuahuas] My Dad (OT) We had to take my dad to the ER at the hospital tonight...about 10 minutes before the Super Bowl was over...We’re not sure what happened...he said he was sitting at the kitchen table and his lower lip swelled up (filled with blood) and started to bleed. At the hospital they gave him one stitch.They did and EKG...and a cat scan at the ER...they kept him and are going to run more tests. Not sure what happened...he insists he didn’t fall. He had a major stroke 2 and a half years ago...but he showed no signs on a stroke tonight...thank God...he’s very alert and acts the same...the cat scan came back normal. Please say a prayer for him. We didn’t get home from the hospital till after 3 AM...we had to wait till they got a bed for him...then my daughter called and kept me on the phone for 45 minutes! I’m waiting for Dave to leave for work so I can take a 2 hour nap before heading back to the hospital....Thanks~~Sharon
