Bad sign that girlfriend has Dementia.

Two days ago I and my girlfreind have been told that she be moving to a assisted living. Her doctor's are placing her in this. They had her walk around his doctor's office and she did excellent by her able to run down the hallway. She always been a good walker. She has a good body but a bad mind. She fell on ice this morning on the sidewalk and just got back up without getting hurt. I will hate see her leave. Her sister has told me in the past she has a hard time staying in one place and always wanting to leave. I might end up in one of these places myself some day. I wonder if my doctor could place place me in a nursing home without any warning?
 

I did some research on this and mostly what I read is that you can't be forced into a nursing home as long as you are of sound mind and able to care for yourself or get the home care you need to stay at home. Yet I saw a few conflicting articles about that. If you have family, they can place you in a nursing home against your will by getting a court order. I saw that first hand when I worked in nursing homes. Maybe this would be a question to ask an attorney in your state.
 
katlupe said:
I did some research on this and mostly what I read is that you can't be forced into a nursing home as long as you are of sound mind and able to care for yourself or get the home care you need to stay at home. Yet I saw a few conflicting articles about that. If you have family, they can place you in a nursing home against your will by getting a court order. I saw that first hand when I worked in nursing homes. Maybe this would be a question to ask an attorney in your state.
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She has power of attorney for herself. Her mind is getting worse it seams every month. She does drive her car when I tell her which way to go.
 

katlupe said:
One thing I caught with someone who I thought was showing signs of it was that she knows what she wants to say but cannot think of the name of who or what she is talking about. At first it was a very slight thing, like when anyone forgets a name of something. Then it became worse, like not knowing the word for the elevator and will say "you know, the thing." She is now on medication for it but it is still very apparent. Her doctor called it "onset dementia" and this is all that is wrong with her. Otherwise she appeared to be in good health for her age of 75.

I certainly hope your girlfriend does not have it. Maybe just having trouble with the physical part of the bath.
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Yikes, I forget words all the time, sooner or later I remember it. But it is really frustrating.
 
Robert59 said:
What makes me mad is her doctor treats her like nothing has happen.
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I get that from doctors, too, When I go to my PCP with an issue, she just says "You have to expect that - you're getting older." I've given up on health care 'professionals'. All they do is give you the bum's rush, then bill the health insurance company $250 for an office call.
 
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Robert59 said:
What makes me mad is her doctor treats her like nothing has happen. I have no rights since i'm not married to her.
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A dear friend just lost her partner of 22 years, they were not married. She is having problems getting things done because she has to prove they were cohabiting and considered common law. He went so fast that she is still reeling, and then she has to show proof they lived as if married. Fortunately she has quite a bit of proof.
 
Robert59 said:
Her mental doctor called me and said her doctor wants to put her in a nursing home now because of her dementia but seams to having problem finding one because she only make's like 1200.00 a month from Social Security. She lives with me now for free rent and only pays half electric and water, sewer, property taxes, house insurance.
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Well is she only gets $1,200 a month and has no other assets, why can't she qualify for Medicaid? When my mother went into the nursing home (thank God it was a good one), she was able to pay cash for a few months then the account manager schooled me as to what to do when her money was running out. She was placed on Medicaid and he told me to make sure to keep her balance below the requirement to remain on Medicaid. They kept all but $35 of her Social Security when it was determined she was unlikely to be able to return to her apartment. I spent enough of her money on her personal care items and clothing to keep her asset balance in check. I had to submit the receipts of what I bought to the nursing home.

I'd advise you to visit some of the nursing homes in the area and ask questions yourself. Speak with social workers and account managers, if you can. You may not be a relative but it seems like you are the most logical person to help her with this.
 
Jules said:
@Robert59 Did your girlfriend go into assisted living and how is working out for her? Sorry if you spoke of this in another thread.
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Assisted Living is just an apartment with no other help unless you pay for it. A dear friend of mine went into assisted living. He went to the dining room for meals with the others each day. Any medical care such as helping with meds or cleaning his apartment were extra things he could get but he had to pay for them. I know because I helped him pay his bills from them each month.
 
Robert59 said:
We found out by her doctor's that her Dementia head scan test has come back as negative. What does this mean?
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Don't know...how reliable are those tests supposed to be? Are they unlikely to miss the earlier stages of dementia? Seeking answers to my own questions, I looked it up. Here's an excerpt from the article linked below:
"EEG is sometimes used to diagnose different types of dementia. This is because the pattern of electrical activity in a brain with dementia is different to a healthy brain. Using this scan to look for brain activity patterns typical of dementia can improve the accuracy of diagnosis compared to using traditional memory and thinking tests. As seizures can be a symptom in some types of dementia, EEGs can also investigate this."
https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/blog/all-you-need-to-know-about-brain-scans-and-dementia/
Here is the search page with other demential information sites but if you could ask her doctor your questions, that might be more helpful.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=head+scan+test+for+dementia&t=brave&ia=web
 

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