Dementia

When my dad was 85, something led me to ask his doctor to prescribe a psychological exam for him. His doctor texted me back that he was pretty sure my dad had dementia and he didn’t think a psychological exam was necessary.

Why had he not told me this before? It was so obvious. Of course, dementia was written all over my dad, but it was lost among his other behaviors.

My dad fell this summer when he was at Walmart. He was leaving and did a faceplant outside the front door. Emergency was called and the EMTs checked him out and determined that he was OK enough to drive home alone like he said he wanted to do. So he did.

When he got home (about 5 miles away), he told mom what had happened. Soon the bruises started showing on his face. She took him to the emergency room. He had a broken nose and there was some concern about his eyes. They released him. My sister sent me a picture of him. He looked like a monster: black eyes, bruised and swollen cheeks.

I started thinking “head trauma? brain injury?” I sent a letter to his doctor telling him what had happened and asking him to check this out. That was in May. This week he’ll have a cognitive test. The doctor will go over the results with him next month. I’m hoping for a formal dementia diagnosis and some new prescriptions to help with his behavior.