Caring

As Important as Safety are Diet, Medications and Hydration are all a big part of keeping them healthy.

Whenever possible check in on them and or visit multiple times a day to see what is going on, administer medicine, give them their meals and hydration. Check around for things left on like the oven, showers, sinks, etc. The more you see them the more you can be aware of and what is going on in the home, etc.

If you call them on the phone and speak to them depending on the stage of there condition they can really fool you. My family members would speak to my Mom on the phone and tell me that sounds great and doubt me of her condition. This is because they didn't ask the correct questions. They can often have regular conversations and can remember the past however, they cannot tell you what they had for breakfast just a few minutes ago. This is because the short term memory goes first and they can continue to remember things in the past. Since my family members were not seeing her physically and did not ask the right questions they would doubt me.

After time your loved one will start to forget things. They may even forget to eat or forget if they actually did eat or not. They will also do the same with hydration. The effort it takes for them to prepare a meal is overwhelming for them so they won't do it . They will start to eat whatever is the easiest thing for them to get a hold of like chips, etc.