Care Management ~ Eldercare Advocacy ~ Dementia Care

Changes Commonly Experienced in Stage II
Memory and cognitive ability continue to deteriorate in Stage II, which make supervision and assistance a primary need. Preparations for this stage include considerations for 24-hour assistance, transportation, housing, financial and legal matters, and long-term care.

Medical assistance and caregiver respite are mandatory for your parent’s safety and yours, and to control your quality of life.

Increased Confusion:
/_/ My parent has difficulty remembering to lock the door.
/_/ My parent cannot remember how to call me if she needs help.
/_/ My parent cannot formulate complete thoughts and sentences.
/_/ My parent cannot read.
/_/ My parent may mix up identities or forget names and identities (daughter, son, grandchild, friends, and deceased relatives).
/_/ My parent doesn’t recognize or remember the use of objects like a chair or bed.
/_/ My parent shows frustration at not being able to understand or at not being understood.

Speech/Actions
/_/ My parent repeats questions or statements many times.
/_/ My parent makes repetitive motions.
/_/ My parent paces in circles or wanders from room to room.
/_/ My parent often becomes unmanageable in the afternoons or evenings with verbal outbursts or physical activities such as masturbating or disrobing in public or running away.
/_/ My parent makes up stories to fill in memory gaps.

Hygiene Changes
/_/ My parent refuses to bathe or becomes fearful and agitated when we bathe her.
/_/ My parent wants to wear the same pieces of clothing for extended periods of time without washing them.
/_/ My parent is incontinent.

Sleep/Paranoia/Fear
/_/ My parent sometimes or always sleeps during the day and stays awake at night.
/_/ My parent has accused us of trying to kill her or stealing her money.
/_/ My parent is sometimes aggressive or combative and has tried to kick, hit, scratch, or bite other people.

Safety Risks

/_/ My parent lives alone and gets lost when he goes outside his home.
/_/ My parent no longer understands what poison is or does.
/_/ My parent is unsure of himself on stairs or balconies.
/_/ My parent’s balance is off and he is at risk for a trip or fall.
/_/ My parent can no longer dial my number on the phone. (Try this test: hand your parent the telephone and say, “Dial my number, Mom.”)
/_/ My parent could no longer evacuate in a fire.
/_/ My parent could no longer remember how to call 911 in an emergency.

At the more severe levels of impairment, your parent may not remember you, your siblings, or a spouse. It will no longer be safe to leave your parent alone. Your parent will require twenty-four-hour supervision and total assistance with all activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, dressing, and toileting.

"Mom is only sixty-eight years old, but she is at the end stage of AD. I want to spend as much time with her as I can, but it’s very hard to see her this way. Sometimes she cries for the baby son she lost forty years ago. A nurse who visits Mom once a week suggested we give her a baby doll to hold. Her home health aide said that when Mom becomes upset or agitated, she gives her the doll and Mom rocks it to sleep in her arms. Sometimes I wish I was the baby doll."

Fran, Minnesota