whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M
Sadly, if she is still driving you do need to tell someone. At the least, her competence to drive needs to be tested. I stopped my wife driving just as covid started, But we didnt 'inform her" until after it was over that the car sat in the driveway for 2 more years. "Broken down"😷
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whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M
@pearllederman And what about them school crossing guard and the bunch of kids supposed to be safe crossing the road? You have a responsibility here. You are not hiding her keys. You are alerting the right people to check she is safe to have on the road. Of course, maybe her freedom to drive is more important than the lives of others.😷
pearllederman · 61-69, F
@whowasthatmaskedman not sure who I should tell, they might not do anything
whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M
@pearllederman Either the local police, or the DMV.😷
Carazaa · F
You are very thoughtful! I would be helpful to her and show you care. And ask her to call you if she needs help, and then if you have a chance share your thoughts with her family (children etc.) They have more power to do something like doctors' appointments, or move her to their home, or nursing home.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
There are different forms of dementia, not all the simple loss of short-term memory. One rare version destroys the ability to see and recognise familiar objects even right in front of you.
My longest-standing friend died after severe Alzheimer's Syndrome had even robbed his power fo speech - though the actual death was by Covid on top of that and a heart problem.
His widow told me the first sign was he found it increasingly and strangely difficult to perform simple dimension calculations normal in his model-making hobby. Since that hobby involves machinery, eventually it became not only difficult but dangerous. Obviously too, he had to give up driving, and his wife did not drive.
It is a very cruel set of diseases, and as my friend said of her fading husband, "You don't know what he might be thinking, and I don't know if he even still knows me".
My longest-standing friend died after severe Alzheimer's Syndrome had even robbed his power fo speech - though the actual death was by Covid on top of that and a heart problem.
His widow told me the first sign was he found it increasingly and strangely difficult to perform simple dimension calculations normal in his model-making hobby. Since that hobby involves machinery, eventually it became not only difficult but dangerous. Obviously too, he had to give up driving, and his wife did not drive.
It is a very cruel set of diseases, and as my friend said of her fading husband, "You don't know what he might be thinking, and I don't know if he even still knows me".
BizSuitStacy · M
Kind of sounds like she has dementia. Reminds me a little of when one of my elderly neighbors was in her car, stopped in the middle of the street, engine running, and a confused look on her face. I walked up and asked if she was ok. She couldn't remember how to roll down the window or unlock the car door. After several minutes, she finally found the button for the window, and then I was able to unlock the door and shut off the engine. I contacted her daughter who lived close by. Eventually, they had to sell her home and move her into a memory care facility.
pearllederman · 61-69, F
@Wiseacre not sure but she might be about 80
