Mom has always loved to travel. Longest car ride we've taken was 14 hours but that was 5 years ago. Took a 6 hour car trip 2 years ago & it was fine. Now CHF controlled, diabetes controlled, dementia progressing but not debilitating yet. Not confused or afraid 90% of the time. 10% is like last week insisting she still had a car & forgets she ate or by next day forgets we went anywhere. She has always felt safe with me. So taking a 12 HR car trip. Taking DVD player, magazines, unsalted snacks. For hotel a portable shower chair, bathtub mat, removable grab rail, bed rail to help stand up like at home. Her 2 blankets she'll recognize. Obviously her medication, Walker, wheelchair, health cards, POA paperwork. Any other suggestions?
I was just looking at my passport and realized we took a cruise among the Cook Islands and Tahiti one year into my husband's dementia. Was I nuts??!! But aside from some rushed moments in airports, it went fine.
Each case of dementia is unique, and there are changes as it progresses. But if travel is possible, I say, Do It!
A few years ago, I took mom on a 5 day trip, 7 hour drive one way. She did fine then too. We just kept as much of her schedule normal as possible...wake up, bath, sleeping.
Goo luck to you!
The suggestion of a scale by 97yroldmom was a good one, especially if CHF is involved. Daily weights are a must with that. My mom, who refused to weigh herself for years, spent the last year of her life in the NH being weighed every single day because of her CHF. She was so good at hiding her symptoms that the weight was sometimes the only indication that there could be a problem on the horizon. This woman sat in the hospital with a monitor on her chest with her heart going from 70 bpm to 125 bpm in a matter of minutes and never even flinched. The doctor and nurses were shocked that she didn't pass out or even claim to feel funny. They asked if she felt faint or anything and she said no, she was fine.
You're right about the motel beds. Oh my gosh. The last really long trip I took my mom on was to her hometown about 600 miles away. We did pretty good except for the motel beds and dinky little shower stalls. It was an older motel that had been upgraded with new beds, carpeting, etc. But the showers were still really, really small shower stalls, not tubs. So you stood in the shower, spun yourself around to get wet, washed up (trying not to hit your elbows on the walls), then spun around again to rinse. LOL But the beds....Mom was 4' 9" tall, and I am only a few inches taller than that. Mom was also a night owl - so she would get up in the night time to use the bathroom or watch the tv, and then not be able to get back into the bed. So I'd have to get up, stand behind her as she faced the bed, put her right knee on the bed and then I'd put my hands on her hip and give a good firm shove - and into the bed she'd roll. Thank goodness it was a queen bed, or she'd have gone right over the other side! LOL
Make sure the childproof locks on the back doors are engaged. Make sure mom doesn't have access to anything like a cane or a long handled icebrush with which to attack the driver. Don't put her in the front seat ( my mom grabs the wheel-- she thinks she's being kidnapped).
I take it you are not trying to make the trip all in one day. How long will you stay once you reach your destination?
Good luck and have a safe, comfortable trip!