The coming crisis in dementia care and why Pennsylvania is woefully unprepared
Pat Loughney was sleep-deprived and panicked as he dug a partially eaten bar of medicated soap from his wife’s mouth in the narrow confines of their upstairs bathroom. Minutes later, her face swelled and her throat began to close.
At the hospital, Pat explained to the staff that Candy had Alzheimer’s disease and her condition had been deteriorating.
Run-of-the-mill septuagenarian forgetfulness had progressed to a dizzying string of misplaced cars, wandering incidents, locks being placed inside their home near Pittsburgh, and Pat staying awake at all hours to make sure his greatest fears weren’t realized.
There were moments of relative clarity along the way, too.
“Alzheimer’s is like a floor lamp with a loose light bulb on a creaky floor,” Pat recalled a physician telling him. “Every once in a while there’s a connection.”
Read more: https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/09/pa-alzheimers-dementia-crisis-unprepared/