Getting a head start for dad?
Sorry I don’t know if this is the right place to post this.
So my great grandmother and grandmother both passed away after dealing with pretty severe dementia.
I wasn’t alive to see my great grandmother, but I did see the toll it took on my grandmother. She was NOT the most…pleasant…lady to deal with even before her memory issues started. Her dementia caused my father A LOT of stress. She was twice divorced and he was her primary caregiver.
My father is easier to deal with than my grandmother. However, he is very OCD. A lot of people overuse that term but my father is the literal definition of it. He obsessively cleans the house. He doesn’t allow anyone else to do laundry or the dishes (yes you read that right, my mother has not done a single load of laundry or the dishes in over 30 years of marriage). He will go crazy if anybody messes with his cleaning stuff. He’s the same way with his home office, nothing can be moved and everything must be organized to his liking. Things MUST be done his way by him. There’s so much more, but I think you get the point.
Admittedly, not having to worry about doing any cleaning including clothes is very nice. But I know this absolutely will cause problems if he develops dementia.
He’s 66 now. Doesn’t seem to be showing any signs. But I don’t want to take my chances. I know nothing is out there yet than can truly prevent dementia, but I don’t know if there’s anything we should do NOW that can help since I read early intervention is critical with dementia patients. Should he meet with a specialist? Something else?