Guest guest Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 My husband Bob was diagnosed the Parkinson's Disease in 2003 and Lewy Body Dementia in 2009. He stopped driving immediately on diagnosis in 2009. It only took one year for him to need to wear adult diapers for urine incontinance due to a benign enlarged prostate that causes constant dribbling of urine. It took two years until he was re-evaluated and declared incompetant to make any decisions what so ever. Now today he can still feed himself if I cut up his food for him in little bite size pieces, but needs me to dress and undress him, and do his shower. He will brush his teeth if I set up the toothbrush with the toothpaste and hand it to him. Bob was 73 when he was diagnosed with LBD and is now 75. He walks with assistance of one. Get your financial affairs in order, and have a Power of Attorney and Living Will/Advance Directives drawn up by a good Elder Law Attorney as soon as possible if you don't have good ones now. Do it before your loved one is too far gone to take care of it. Consult with a good Elder Law Attorney about future plans for his care. Will you have the money to pay for nursing home care or private pay nursing at home? Or will you need to go on Medicaid to pay his expenses? Discuss your plans with the attorney. Each state has different laws regarding Medicaid eligibility, but there is a five year look back period where the state has the right to examine all of your financial accounts to see if you have gifted any money or property away. If you have they will go after it. And you cannot qualify for state medicaid until you spend the amount equal to what you gave away. Where I live you are only allowed to keep $2000.00 in cash, one vehicle, and one residence. I hope you get to consult with a good Elder Law attorney as soon as possible, if you have not all ready done so. Best Wishes, Pat M. 58 Wife/caregiver of Bob 75 dx PD 2003, LBD 2009 > ** > > > I know everyone with this disease is different, but I'm trying to make > some very important decisions and I could use some input. > > About how many years after diagnosis did your LO have before they were no > longer capable of caring for themselves? If you could also add their age at > time of dx, I would really appreciate it. > Thanks > > C > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 Thank you, Pat. I already have power of attorney, medical and otherwise. We are on the waiting list for a progressive care community in our area. That's why I'm trying to predict the future. We have to move in while he is still capable of caring for himself. My concern is that once the decline starts, it'll go too quickly for us to get in in time. Physically, he's still good. Mentally, not so much. He has good and bad spells. During the good times, he's very functional. During the bad times, he can't even tell time. I feel a lot of anxiety about this issue. In order to move we must sell our house and buy a lifetime lease for one of the apartments. It's our dream house and I'm reluctant to sell, but I know we're going to have to eventually, so what's the point in waiting, ya know? This is costing me a lot of sleep. C ________________________________ To: LBDcaregivers Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 6:17 PM Subject: Re: timeline help My husband Bob was diagnosed the Parkinson's Disease in 2003 and Lewy Body Dementia in 2009. He stopped driving immediately on diagnosis in 2009. It only took one year for him to need to wear adult diapers for urine incontinance due to a benign enlarged prostate that causes constant dribbling of urine. It took two years until he was re-evaluated and declared incompetant to make any decisions what so ever. Now today he can still feed himself if I cut up his food for him in little bite size pieces, but needs me to dress and undress him, and do his shower. He will brush his teeth if I set up the toothbrush with the toothpaste and hand it to him. Bob was 73 when he was diagnosed with LBD and is now 75. He walks with assistance of one. Get your financial affairs in order, and have a Power of Attorney and Living Will/Advance Directives drawn up by a good Elder Law Attorney as soon as possible if you don't have good ones now. Do it before your loved one is too far gone to take care of it. Consult with a good Elder Law Attorney about future plans for his care. Will you have the money to pay for nursing home care or private pay nursing at home? Or will you need to go on Medicaid to pay his expenses? Discuss your plans with the attorney. Each state has different laws regarding Medicaid eligibility, but there is a five year look back period where the state has the right to examine all of your financial accounts to see if you have gifted any money or property away. If you have they will go after it. And you cannot qualify for state medicaid until you spend the amount equal to what you gave away. Where I live you are only allowed to keep $2000.00 in cash, one vehicle, and one residence. I hope you get to consult with a good Elder Law attorney as soon as possible, if you have not all ready done so. Best Wishes, Pat M. 58 Wife/caregiver of Bob 75 dx PD 2003, LBD 2009 > ** > > > I know everyone with this disease is different, but I'm trying to make > some very important decisions and I could use some input. > > About how many years after diagnosis did your LO have before they were no > longer capable of caring for themselves? If you could also add their age at > time of dx, I would really appreciate it. > Thanks > > C > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 My husband is already having trouble with aphasia. He uses the wrong words for things and it makes it tough to follow what he's trying to say. He'll refer to a clock as a " timer " or the vacuum cleaner as a " sucker " etc. This is a relatively new development--the last couple of months. C  ________________________________ To: " LBDcaregivers " <LBDcaregivers > Sent: Friday, December 30, 2011 6:14 PM Subject: Re: timeline help  Hi , Mom had been struggling what we thought was Parkinson's disease since approximately 2008. But our beautiful and loving mother got the dx of lewy body in May of 2010 at which time she had sustained several falls and no longer could be relied on cognitively to take care of her own paperwork, bills etc. Within 6 months of the dx she began to lose the ability to speak, repeating words or phrases as she could not put together words to make a sentence. At the same time she had delusions....and was losing her balance more and could not walk on her own. A year later out beautiful mother could not walk or talk at all and was incontinent of urine and no longer recognized her loved ones. Now, one and a half years after dx she is completely incontinent, cannot feed herself, doesn't make any sounds, eats only liquified foods, is mostly bed bound, sleeps most of the time and is taking off weight rapidly. I hope that helps and wish you strength as you move through the rapid deterioration of this plague. Wishing you and all my friends here the best for the new year, Judy Judy R Strauss, LMSW, PhD Area Chair | College of Social Sciences University of Phoenix Jersey City Campus | 100 Town Square Place | Suite 305 Jersey City, NJ 07310 Cell: Email: Jrstr@... > I know everyone with this disease is different, but I'm trying to make some very important decisions and I could use some input. > > About how many years after diagnosis did your LO have before they were no longer capable of caring for themselves? If you could also add their age at time of dx, I would really appreciate it. > Thanks > > C > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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