Comments on: Blog 31: Are we there yet?

By: Fay

Fay — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 04:41:20 +0000

As I remember it, David, with Bill it was not so much a matter of “Frequency V Infrequency” or “Liked hobby V Not-so-liked chore”. Certainly, Bill’s ability to drive stayed with him for a lot longer time than did any of those competencies that he had learnt in the classroom like reading and measuring and and handling money, which disappeared very early on. It has been suggested to me by a friend who worked in Health as a Paramedic, that this is because there is a large component of automatic response in driving that is not present in the act of measuring, for example. So, with Bill it was more “Activity incorporating automatic response V Activity that demands active brain input from start to finish.”
You might argue that reading is fairly automatic, but it is not because of the work that the brain must do, from start to finish, comprehending that which is being read. It is the same with all of those activities. You cannot write a cheque without complete and absorbed concentration. Similarly, you cannot read a map or write a sentence without focussing fully on the activity for its entire length. And Bill lost all those abilities very early on. But driving stayed with him for longer because the brain can be singing a song while that activity is being undertaken.

By: Fay

Fay — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 03:46:35 +0000

I think it was, Charmaine. When I made that decision to call a cab, I had expected much more of a fight from Bill. But, to my complete surprise, there was next to no opposition at all. You wouldn’t know what was going on in Bill’s brain at the time but I myself believe that he was pretty relieved not to be in charge of driving any more.

By: Fay

Fay — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 07:28:46 +0000

Sue Pieters-Hawke (Hazel’s Journey) tells us that Hazel’s driving history after her Alzheimer’s diagnosis was similar to Bill’s in that Hazel sometimes became lost in familiar territory, that she soon found herself restricting her driving to her own suburb, that she rejected suggestions from family and friends that she cease driving, and that she eventually did give it up.
As far as I can tell from Internet research, neither Hazel nor Bill were breaking the law by continuing to drive as they did.
In “Hazel’s Journey”, Sue reports that: “Mum famously said in her ‘Australian Story’ program that she was forced to give up her licence because of the diagnosis — that this was simply the law. That’s not correct,” Sue explains. “It’s a confusion that Mum picked up somewhere along the way. However,” she goes on to say, “Alzheimers Australia does recommend that driving cease fairly early on in the disease.”
There seems to be no hard and fast rules about this matter for those living in Australia. Perhaps this is an area that we need to look into.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 07:33:06 +0000

I wonder at what rate you might lose ability in doing things you did a lot of versus those you didn’t do a lot and likewise, those you liked (hobby) or those you had to do (chore)? Is there a logic to that when it comes to Vascular Dementia?

Quite a slope of lawn to be unsure of handling a lawn mower.

By: Charmaine Zuidam

Charmaine Zuidam — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 10:22:33 +0000

It must have been very frightening for him as his skills deteriorated.