Husband diagnosed with MCI, meeting criteria for probable CAA.

Posted by cdk @cdk, 6 days ago

I have no one I can talk to and I'm hoping to find others with similar situations. I first noticed my husband's symptoms in about 2008, not only in memory issues, but in cognition. His thinking just slowed down. He couldn't keep up with conversations. He developed a disequilibrium and the need for a cane as his gait and balance changed. He consulted various MDs and we modified every variable we could think of: his meds, his oxygenation, (started CPAP,) his pacemaker, etc, etc. He notably developed the habit of writing everything down, though he forgets which notebook, and so on. (He has also had four episodes of transient global amnesia in the last twenty years without evidence of any sequelae.) At the end of June he saw a neurologist who compared his MRIs from 2019 and 2021 showing increasing punctate foci in lobar regions, and that he meets the criteria for MCI due to probable cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). I have been adjusting all my days to the fact that he's not going to get better, and I am unprepared for all the new symptoms he presents. In the last few weeks he has begun singing and humming in a high pitched voice for hours at a time, just making noises, and he flops his right arm around with no apparent knowledge that he's doing it. Now he is starting to hallucinate, seeing things that are not there. He can't have another MRI until March because of personnel issues at the medical center related to his pacemaker, so it just feels like we are free-floating, waiting for the next symptoms. I wish I could help him more and I wish I could help my own stress as well.

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Those are great reflections. I'm sure the social opportunities would be better than I can provide if my wife was in the right place. We have sniped at each other several times in the last few months. A hard decision..

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I think it depends, also, on the persons condition and needs upon entering a care facility. In my case, with my wifes declining cognitive abilities, social life or activities might not be utilized. She will spend the large part of some days now hallucinating and talking to imaginary visitors. She has difficulty expressing a clear thought and carrying on a convesation. Her medical condition, outside of dementia is quite normal for a person her age. I have learned about the difference in placing a person in a memory care facility and a skilled care facility. Around here, there is a waiting list fo skilled care but multiple openings for memory care.

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