EP #7: The Evolutionary Path of Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease

Ever wondered how dementia and Alzheimer's evolve within a patient? Join us as we journey through the stages of these diseases with co-hosts, Kristi Gurule and Jeremy Wolf, shedding light on early signs and when to seek professional help. We focus on the fluctuating nature of these diseases, the progression to debilitating stages, and the heartbreaking experiences of patients transitioning to full-time care units or end of life.

As we navigate this challenging terrain, we highlight the role of Comfort Keepers, a non-skilled agency that provides care, companionship, and support for patients and their families. We discuss our successful partnerships with skilled medical professionals, that allows us to offer comprehensive care at home. Listen as we share our experiences, from early detection to end-of-life care, while aiming to raise awareness, educate, and provide invaluable insights to help families navigate these challenging times.

Please visit our website for more information: https://www.comfortkeepers.com/offices/florida/davie/

or contact: (954) 947-7954

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Comfort Keepers Davy podcast, where we elevate the human spirit. Here's your host, christy Grulay.

Jeremy: 0:11

Hello everyone and welcome to Comfort Keepers Davy podcast. I'm your co-host, jeremy Wolfe. If I could speak today, we'd be in good shape. It is Monday, so, christy, how are you doing?

Kristi: 0:25

It's a Monday, great.

Jeremy: 0:28

I'm excited. I'm excited. So we've been talking a little bit about various stages of dementia and Alzheimer's and signs to look for and the kind of that progression and how that works and what you see in your industry when you're in a home and somebody is suffering from early onset dementia or Alzheimer's and you guys are helping out. What are some of the signs that you guys look for, that it may be time for you guys to actually bring in some outside help or take them to a medical professional.

Kristi: 0:57

Right, that's a really, really loaded. We could be here for hours discussing all the different scenarios that I've seen play out, but ultimately what my team? What we have to remember is that we're a non-skilled agency. Right, so we have many skills, but we can't replace the skills that are brought out by an RN. We can't replace a nurse.

Kristi: 1:21

Okay, so the very you know, later, later stages of Alzheimer's are just, they're terrible and debilitating, and so if it gets to the point where a client cannot take medication regularly, they have to take medication because, remember, we can't give medication, we can only remind that. If they're not able to take their medication, that's something. So take me out of the factor for that. If they're requiring any type of IV fluids because they're not drinking or eating, that's again another thing I wouldn't be able to administer that. Again, we're there to ensure someone's safety, but to the point where we know that these are the parameters that we can operate under.

Kristi: 2:04

And if someone gets to that stage, it wouldn't be an overnight thing. Family would obviously know too. But this is really where we can have a great partnership with a skilled agency. Okay, so we can still be in there to help do personal care. We can still help bathe, groom, hair, their mouth care, we can help with toileting, all of those things we can help with, and then a skilled agency can come in and just do the medical part of it, giving the medication or if there's anything else again that I cannot do under state regulations, and we've done that many times. There's some really great partnerships that we've created to be able to provide like the whole services still in the comfort of someone's home.

Jeremy: 2:53

Interesting, interesting. So I was going to say something and I lost my train of thought. I'm curious have you seen, in working with families that are in many cases suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's, is this and again I'm speaking, this is more, maybe a medical question, but I'm curious to know your feedback on it. Is this a completely linear type of disease where it just continues to get worse? Or is it nonlinear, whereas somebody, maybe one day they're not doing really well, and then the next day it seems that I'd imagine that that would be the case right, and then the next day it seems like they're fine and then it can get worse. It's just, it's not.

Kristi: 3:34

it's not as cut and dry as just being a gradual progression, right, right right and again, everybody is different, but especially early on, you will see like it was a great day. I'll hear this a lot from families. It was a great day for mom today. It was a great day. She was in a good mood, she remembered a lot, she had a good appetite. So that's a good day. On a bad day, mom may forget the people that are in the room with her, she may be a lot more combative, not her normal personality. That's a bad day for mom. So you do see that a lot. When you get, like I said, into the very, very last stages of dementia or Alzheimer's, you've lost your ability to talk, your ability to eat, like that's. That is the most debilitating stage. But they're in, they're in the beginning and middle. You will see good day, bad day, just like us, we all have a good day and a bad day, a clearer day than others, a more energetic day than others. So it is, you do see that.

Jeremy: 4:33

Have you ever got had a situation I'm sure you have in the time you've been doing this where you you were with a family and somebody was progressing through this and it got to the point where you just couldn't do anything for them anymore in their own home and there was just the only option left was to bring them to either assisted living or kind of end of the road care. I'm sure that's unfortunately happens from time to time.

Kristi: 4:56

Yes, yes, we have been there. We've been there in both scenarios where a family member is now being placed in a unit that is specifically for Alzheimer's 24 hour, around the clock care, and we've also been there at the very, like you said, the very later, later stages. And again, we will be there providing as much comfort as we can in the ways that we can, and we've been requested just to be there as companionship toward the end, because we're a familiar face.

Kristi: 5:28

We've become a family member essentially to that family that we are serving and they want us to be there for their mom their dad realizing that we're not doing a whole lot, that really, what we are doing is now helping more of the family than their loved one.

Jeremy: 5:45

Yeah, so so important. I mean, this is such a it's such a traumatic topic. It's certainly fascinating and it's something that so many people have to deal with and it's good to raise awareness and help kind of educate and share and just just give little plant, little seeds with people, just so something they hear through these conversations can just get them to kind of look out for certain things or just notice something that they otherwise may not have noticed. That can cause them to at least start asking questions and start opening the door to conversations like that, or or even just taking care of yourself better, you know throughout your life which is probably the most important thing.

Kristi: 6:25

Right now right.

Jeremy: 6:27

Absolutely.

Kristi: 6:28

All of those things. If anybody takes any tidbit out of any of these podcasts, it really is. Really is just that, the eye opening and, again, conversation starters.

Jeremy: 6:40

All right, sounds good. Christy, I always a pleasure. I say this too often, but it truly is Thank you. Yeah we'll catch you next time. Everyone, thanks for tuning in. We'll see you soon.

Speaker 1: 6:53

Thank you for listening to the Comfort Keepers Davy podcast. For more information, visit comfort keeperscom or call 954-947-7927.