My question: I talk to my dad every evening. He sundowns a lot. He was very articulate when he told me he had been kidnapped was being held for ransom (he had be a politician in DC).
Recently when I talk to him, it's more like read stream of consciousness monologue. I told him about eating out at our local taco truck (the only one in my VERY rural county) and it went from "what did you eat" to "things will settle down and they will get the shooters" I suspect that news was on the TV. Also our conversations have gone from 15 minutes a night last May to 7 minutes a night. He use to be about to do the politician thing of asking questions about subjects he didn't know about (_boar taint_ sounds like a difficult problem to cost effectively over come, how did you decide your course of action? fill in underlined area with your choice of problem) to "uh huh, that sounds interesting" Is this what language loss is? Or is this just sundowning and will get better as the days get longer?
I'm a teacher, I'm up and out before he is out of bed. By the time he comes back from dinner, and has watched Jeopardy and Wheel of fortune ( he loves those two shows) it's dark.
Has he been evaluated by a geriatric psychiatrist who is well versed in dementia?
Dad was evaluated (mayo clinic I believe) and does have Alzheimers. Is this his ALZ getting worse or just it's dark at 5:30 and he is sundowning.
The health checks once a month are not terribly extensive. Height , weight, blood pressure,listen to the heart and lungs, pee in a cup, vision. If anything looks weird a blood test is ordered.