This is a question I ask myself all the time. Every day probably! I wonder if I will wait too long and something terrible will happen. My mom's gerontologist tells me not to get wrapped up in "what ifs" because incidents with dementia patients are rare.
BUT...
These are the things that have happened with my mom that make me worry that she shouldn't be alone:
-wakes during the night and thinking she has slept all day. Gets up, eats, gets dressed and goes wandering out to the lobby looking for people. Calls her friends and family wondering why nobody is around.
-forgets to eat unless someone is there to guide her. Doesn't seem to recognize hunger, although she gets thirsty at times.
-having incontinence problems- both urine and stool. Often can smell an odor of urine around her.
-avoids showering.
-has left her outside door standing wide open (faces into the street) and gone to bed at night- found by my daughter who came to spend the night and found it open.
-keeps food in her fridge until it is long past safe to eat. Never throws food away.
-has large size furniture in a little apartment and refuses to allow us to change anything. Coffee table is so large that she has torn open her shin several times trying to get around it. I'm afraid she is going to fall because her balance is so poor.
-can't use the stove or oven safely (we shut it off at the breaker panel)
-wouldn't know how to respond to a smoke alarm.
-set off the smoke alarms in December by letting a candle burn down into the setting till it started smoking.
-can't go anywhere alone. I'm sure she would get lost. So far she only goes with her hired companion for groceries and appointments, but how long until she decides to go alone one day?
...I could go on and on.
I just don't know how I will know when to arrange 24/7 care. How do you know when it's time?
BUT...
These are the things that have happened with my mom that make me worry that she shouldn't be alone:
-wakes during the night and thinking she has slept all day. Gets up, eats, gets dressed and goes wandering out to the lobby looking for people. Calls her friends and family wondering why nobody is around.
-forgets to eat unless someone is there to guide her. Doesn't seem to recognize hunger, although she gets thirsty at times.
-having incontinence problems- both urine and stool. Often can smell an odor of urine around her.
-avoids showering.
-has left her outside door standing wide open (faces into the street) and gone to bed at night- found by my daughter who came to spend the night and found it open.
-keeps food in her fridge until it is long past safe to eat. Never throws food away.
-has large size furniture in a little apartment and refuses to allow us to change anything. Coffee table is so large that she has torn open her shin several times trying to get around it. I'm afraid she is going to fall because her balance is so poor.
-can't use the stove or oven safely (we shut it off at the breaker panel)
-wouldn't know how to respond to a smoke alarm.
-set off the smoke alarms in December by letting a candle burn down into the setting till it started smoking.
-can't go anywhere alone. I'm sure she would get lost. So far she only goes with her hired companion for groceries and appointments, but how long until she decides to go alone one day?
...I could go on and on.
I just don't know how I will know when to arrange 24/7 care. How do you know when it's time?