One of the many things you might experience with a person with dementia / Alzheimer's is bathroom behavior or problems the person will encounter. The problems can be serious or not so serious. Here are some of the things we have experienced with our Mr. Q who seems to be going downhill rather rapidly.
The setting
We own an RCFE (Residential Care Facility for the Elderly) in California. Our RCFE is our home and we actually live there as opposed to some where only caretakers stay with the residents. There we care for a few elderly residents who have difficulties caring for themselves. We have a Mr. Q, who I have been writing about for the past few months, in our home for care. Mr. Q has been previously diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's. He has been with us four and a half months.
Brief History
Previous to that time, as far as we know, he seemed rather normal up until about a year before he came to us. However, due to him being mostly a loner with infrequent communication with his family, no one knew how bad he was getting until they saw him right before they sent him to us. Mr. Q was a very close relative of mine in my younger years but less so over the years since we moved to California decades ago. He continued living in the Midwest where most of his family is still living.
Toilet Problems (Urine)
Originally when Mr. Q arrived he was able to go to the bathroom by himself. That has changed, however, over the short time he has been here. It progressively got to the point where now he is totally unable to go to the toilet by himself without problems. Early on we trained him to sit on the stool whenever he had to use the toilet. This was because he would wet on the floor or toilet seat if he took a leak the normal way. Occasionally he reverts to that old behavior and always the floor gets soaked with urine, as well as the toilet seat. This necessitates us making sure we are with him whenever he has to go to the bathroom.
Toilet Problems (Bowel Movement)
Mr. Q is almost totally unaware of when he has to have a bowel movement. It's a significant problem. His poor eating habits and refusal to drink fluids make it a continuing problem. We have tried lots of things to get him to poop on a regular basis, but all have failed. Initially he would not sit on the toilet stool more than a few seconds, so of course he could not do poo poo properly. That is less of a problem now, but still a major source of contention. In addition when there is a buildup of poo poo internally he will not push it out. That makes things worse. No more detail here - suffice it to say his doing bowel movement is an ongoing major problem for us.
Changing Diapers/Clothes
This is often still a big problem. He will grab the clothes, the diaper, and your hand, and in general make it extremely difficult to change him. Sometimes it takes two of us to do the simple task of changing his diaper. He now wears two diapers at night because he has been wetting himself almost every night. Even that is not good enough sometimes, as he will still get the sheets and sometimes blanket wet and/or filled with poop.
We often change his clothes in the bathroom, usually when he is sitting on the stool. When we change his diapers, and that is quite often, sometimes it is far easier to just put on new pants and shirt (his shirt gets stained with his saliva) there because he is usually more calm and more cooperative than doing the same thing in his bedroom.
Spitting problems
This may be unique to Mr. Q; however we have had another male resident with similar Alzheimer's problems that used to hold and spit saliva almost as bad as Mr. Q. The problem with Mr. Q is whenever he goes into the bathroom he will automatically walk over to the sink and spit. He sometimes spits even if there is no reason, nothing to spit out. Unfortunately he is not careful and often it gets on the floor, on the sink counter and on the toilet seat. Besides the clean-up required, it attracts ants, someone could slip on it (we have a tile floor) and it requires us to be constantly on alert to clean it up should it happen.
Charles has taken a serious look at potential travel destinations, some of which are listed on the Travellistics site. After contacting Safari Kay and getting the real scoop he went on a safari to Tanzania Africa which he has written a series of articles about. If you have been on a safari or traveled to a faraway destination add your comments to the Travellistics site. Charles is now an involuntary caretaker of elderly persons, some of which have dementia and Alzheimer's. He is exposing the problems of caring for someone with dementia or Alzheimer's disease from the perspective of someone who is suddenly in a position of caring for a loved one with those problems. Read about Mr. Q, who has Alzheimer's disease and is a resident in an RCFE (Residential Care Facility for the Elderly). Be aware and prepared if these problems occur to anyone in your family. Get the real story in intimate, sometimes excruciating detail. You can add your comments and experiences to Charles personal site too.
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