We finally got to the point we couldn’t make excuses about deafness or other things and took her in to her PCP a few weeks ago. Went to Neurologist last Tuesday. Did 22 On Montreal memory test when 26-30 is normal. Had an EEG and a bunch of bloodwork, including specific Alzheimers related things. Going the 16th for (we think) a brain MRI and then results 03/19. Also did an EMG on her lower extremities because her gait is so bad and she is having falls. So sad. She is scared, and my sister and I are REALLY scared. How did this play out for you?

She should be evaluated by a neuropsychologist whose entire practice is in this field. Typically they see cases of dementia and TBI exclusively. Most major medical centers have them.

I will also say she needs to see a nureophyscologinst. Going through I some issues with my wife and this is part of the process.

I'm unfortunately in the club. Mom was about 84 when things really started to go south for her. At the eventual cognitive evaluation, when asked her age, she thought she was about 35...

It's a rough road.

Sounds like you are having her do all the right things. With a proper diagnosis there may be some medications that can help out a bit.

My parents were very active. Dad opened a restaurant at age 82 and Mom was still running her farm and riding her horse. Both had falls and started long downhill medical journeys. Me and my sister moved into "caretaking" phase. It's hard, even with professional help. You are doing the right things.

I lost my mom at 89 last year and I was her home care provider until the end.

She was diagnosed a decade before that but at that point it didn't seem like she had a problem. As time passed it did become more apparent.

Things that were important were to make sure she got hearing aids to help her stay social. Mom had narrow ear canals so quarterly visits to get ears cleaned...

Being part of Church, church groups, a knitting group, etc., to keep her mentally active.

PT and OT in the house to help her stay there as long as feasible. A rolling walker, first alert setup in case of fall, ...

It eventually became late onset Alzheimer's. It got to be a difficult road towards the end but you take her hand and do the best you can.

Not related to what OP specifically asked, but THIS THREAD deals the topic of caring for loved ones with dementia.

Several years ago my dad began to have speech fluidity problems. Was slight at first, but became more prominent as time passed. Then he called me on day saying he was lost and didn’t know how he did that. I talked him back to a road he recognized. He was where he had been before so I saw a red flag. He was otherwise lucid, but given other factors, red flag. 6 months later he narrowly escaped a collision. According to my mom, he was completely unaware.

I determined he was quickly becoming an unsafe driver so I tried to convince him to give up driving. He refused. I contacted his doctor and made an appointment for him to be evaluated. Long and short, doc took his keys away and triggered tests that revealed early Alzheimers. His positive diagnosis was 4 years ago.

Today he cannot speak fluidly at all. He’s missing vocabulary. He confuses cook times on the microwave randomly. Last summer he forgot how to write a check. Two weeks ago he couldn’t do his taxes. He looks at architectural drawings he did over his career and can’t make sense of them. Can’t make heads nor tails of his beloved model trains anymore.

Next week I’m heading back home to have a hard conversation with my mom, sister and brother about his care. He is intensely independent. Resists help of any kind. But the time has come as I have collected enough red flags that he cannot manage simple tasks alone safely.

That’s my experience so far

My folks are both elderly. Still live together at home. Challenges abound. Make sure your mom is checked for uti's regularly as that can make things worse. Wish you guys well Melissa.

Thank you everyone. It is pretty overwhelming. Apparently she is set for a Nuclear Medicine brain scan with special injection on the 16th and her non-contrast MRI is bumped out to the 30th, so I guess our appointment to get results will have to be rescheduled out in April instead of 03/19. We’ll need to talk about her hearing too. She is pretty determined that she hears fine and won’t get hearing aids. That alone is enough to make us crazy. Just came home from her house and my sister was there too. We need a way to make sure she’s not getting any mail we don’t see. We did make her stop driving in July after her shoulder replacement. We’re going to need to make a decision when we know a little more about either having someone sit with her when we can’t be there, or maybe assisted living as long as that could work. We have a friend who was really singing praises about a gal who had been sitting with one of her family members who recently died. My sister ran a background check on her for just the counties we know of and she has multiple DUIs, possession of a dangerous drug, and multiple evictions. Our friend was shocked, she had no idea!

My mom's hearing wasn't that bad either. But after taking her to the hair salon, I put her new hearing aids back in and as we made our way to the car she asked, "What's that sound? I hear birds."

Yes, take the DL. Here state IDs are free.
Remove anything from her purse that phone scammers might like. SS#, banking info, and all that.
A trust person was set up at some point and a True Link visa card was used for my mom. Anytime I wasn't with her, a caretaker could use that card for only certain things.

And people that those kind of people are associated with are even more scary. Real horror story potential. Be careful please.

Yeah, don't forget to look into applying for home care giver, if your family doen't have enough manpower to watch her constantly. Also, if you haven't already, I recommend installing videocams strategically, so if there are no one around, you can still monitor her.

And, I hate to state the obvious, but please get her a walker, if she doesn't have one.

If you get your mom hearing aids, two suggestions. First, get rechargeable units. Replacing the tiny batteries in the non-rechargeable is a big problem for a lot of people (vision and dexterity). Mine use less than 50% charge in a typical day, and they are super simple to place in the charging case at night.

Second, be sure she goes to the followup appointments after she gets the hearing aids. She will almost certainly needs some minor tweaks to the fit and/or the programming.

I guess a third suggestion would be to weigh simplicity vs functionality. Mine connect via bluetooth to my phone, and the app allows a lot of control. They also have buttons on the behind-the-ear unit to change program (regular, music/tv, conversation in noisy environments, etc). While these are outstanding features, someone with reduced cognition will never be able to manage them. You'll need to confer with the audiologist about your mom's uses and her ability to either put in-ear units in her ear or fiddle with the behind-the-ear unit and fit the earpiece in.

The tests you are having just show how the brain is functiong, not what she can do. All of us have some degree of brain damage no matter our age. The Memory test you reference is a VERY CRUDE estimate of functioning. For exmaple I know attorneys who have great auditory memory and have no need to write things down. Best of luck

For those who are going through dealing with someone with dementia / Alzheimer's, I recommend this book available on Amazon by someone who's already gone through it. I've gotten to know the author and he's shared how many people have given him feedback how it's helped them understand what's happening better.

Peggy Had a Great Day: The Daily Journey of My Wife's Dementia

One other thing to check, my dad went through some of this, including the falls and we found that he had 90%+ blockage in the LDA (Widow Maker) and it was causing both physical and some mental issues.

Both have cleared up since a couple of Stints were put in, all the docs missed it because they were looking at typical age related things as simply being over 80 years old.

Prayers for you and your family. My dad’s doctor told him that forgetting where he put his car keys is normal. Not a problem It’s when you forget what your car keys are for, thats when it becomes a problem.