Hi, I'm new to the message boards. My mother in law lost her husband to cancer last week. We have had 24/7 caregivers in their home for several months. Now that Dad has passed we want to move Mom in with us. She has severe dementia. We are giving her 2 weeks to stay in her home with the caregivers to get used to the idea of Dad being gone. I have cared for my father who had ALS, and my own Mom who had cancer,so I'm used to caring for the physically ill, but I know this will be a whole new type of caring. She is very healthy and physically fit. She swims for an hour 3x a week and walks her treadmill every night for an hour. I will make sure she keeps up her fitness routine, but if you all have any ideas for me I would love to hear them.

Dear Loriscd,

Welcome to the online community and thank you for writing to us. I’m sorry to hear of the loss that your family has sustained. This will certainly mean changes for all of you, particularly your mother-in-law. It is hard to anticipate what it will be like for her to live with you. Every person with the disease presents unique challenges and has varying needs.

It might be beneficial for you to have a needs assessment for your mother-in-law. This would involve having a social worker evaluate your mother to determine her current level of care as well as to prepare for her needs in the foreseeable future. This way you could get an understanding of how to best keep her safe and healthy within your home. The social worker can also provide you with any resources and referrals within the community to help such as respite care, adult day care, in-home services and more. Your local chapter can set up a needs assessment either through the Alzheimer’s Association or the Office on Aging. You may call the 24-hour helpline @ 1-800-272-3900 and tell the counselor what you are in need of.

I would also suggest safety-proofing your home. The following are some links with suggestions that may help:

www.alz.org/national/documents...chure_homesafety.pdf

www.alz.org/national/documents/topicsheet_safety.pdf

Again, please call or write with any of your concerns. We are here to help. You may want to start attending caregiver support groups and workshops offered through the local chapter. Call us anytime @ 1-800-272-3900.

Lori, welcome to the forum. I am glad you found us here.

Kathleen (as always) gives excellent advice. May I invite you to also post in the Caregivers forum? You will find many warm, supportive people there who are also in the Caregiving trenches everyday. We'd love to have you join us!

Thanks for the advise. I'll post in the caregivers forum also. I've been reading lots of posts and already have many good ideas.