Hi So I know this is question that is hard to answer but based on your experiences with your loved ones what stage of vascular dementia do you think my mom is in. I’ve read lots of stuff. Watched numerous videos on this but I’m unsure.
My mom is 95. She had incontinence and now bowel issues. She’s getting weaker with walker, sleeping a bit more. Appetite is ok not great. She’s time shifting. She’s living in the past where she thinks her mom is alive etc. Knows who I am, but thinks I’m way younger than I am.
She has zero emotions now, more withdrawn.
Any insight?
https://www.nursepartners.org/resources/the-gems/
Your LO seems to be between Ruby and Pearl.
My Aunt was diagnosed at 89 (but had symptoms well before that which we didn't connect the dots and recognize). At almost 101, she could still read the closed caption words while watching a movie (she read them accurately and out loud the entire movie without comprehending the storyline). She could walk if supported with the belt or a walker, she fed herself, brushed her own teeth, needed hygiene help, could play some card and board games, could still recognized people closest to her. I'd say she was in the Ruby stage cognitively for many years. Had she not fallen and broken her hip (which hastened her passing), who knows how long she would have lived... she was in her home with good care, eating good food, being exercised and socialized. Her surviving sister is now 105 (with only mild memory issues). The stages are so individual, I'm not sure I would rely on it too much regarding your LO.
The only scale I can find value in is Teepa Snow's list of gems. The more advances stages are Ruby & Pearl.
If your question really is *how long* there is no easy answer. It may be hard for medical staff that know your Mother really well to have a knowledgeable guess. No-one on a forum can of course.
Plan what you can. Choose her service details, songs, readings if you really want to be prepared. Then go with the flow. This slower flow, for as long as it is.
Like already said, vascular dementia's life expectancy is just 5 years, as it is the most aggressive of all the dementias, but often folks with it also have some other kind of dementia along with it, so that can prolong things a bit.
Only God knows the day and time that He will call her Home, so just try and enjoy whatever time you may have left with her.
God bless you.
My mother always recognized me, right up till the end, even when she was a young girl again and referring to me as her mother. She still knew my name. Alzheimer's is the disease where they more commonly forget loved ones faces.
I read your other posts and I know you're anxious about mom and all of this, how can you not be? I was too, but I let the staff in her memory care AL do the caregiving and I remained moms daughter and advocate, because that's the best we can do. Don't second guess yourself. The dementia is the bad guy here, not you or what you're doing or not doing. Mom's had vascular dementia for 4+ years now, you said, so she's likely approaching the end of her suffering. I prayed daily for God to take my mother, I get it.
Best of luck to you.
I will say that at 95 you may be looking for age related decline without any dementia at all. And at end of life and end of life decisions. Certainly that is true of the mobility. She would be having that decline, and wanting more sleep and less food and having less continence, etc., without ANY dementia whatsoever.
Can you tell us why this letter/numeral thing matters to you at all? You say that you are doing lots of reading. If so, I think I would include "end of life issues" in the research at this point more than
"vascular dementia issues". I believe that this may be the most prevalent issue for you and your mom and her medical team going forward.
Also sometimes they can have a very quick decline. Or they can stay steady for a long time.
There is very little rhyme or reason to any of it