Mom passed away at the nursing home this morning.  This group has been a
great help.  I may continue to read/post here.  Mom wasn't very happy lately
and it is merciful that she went.  She lasted just as long as the money and
I was going to apply for Medicaid next month.  She was diagnosed in 1999 and
I brought her to California and she was placed in a dementia ward.  She
recovered in a few months to the point where she could go into regular
assisted living, where she stayed for about 4 1/2 years.  I think the
aricept and the assisted living helped her a lot; she was happier than she
had ever been in her life.  Her decline started a year ago with a painful
compression fracture and diverticulitis and after a hospitalization, she had
to be placed in a dementia unit.  She didn't get any better this time and
she fell and broke both hips and had to go to a nursing home.  She was not
happy there because she couldn't do anything and her mind had deteriorated.
She developed a habit of yelling for attention and she needed attention
constantly.  It was sad to see this because she had been such a star at the
assisted living and now she was a problem at the nursing home (which did
very well with her - her roommate was not happy with her).  She saw me
either as her mother or as an attendant, but she always recognized me as
someone special.  Her attention span was about 30 seconds and she was not
really interested in eating, but she loved Resource drink.  She was recently
hospitalized for pneummonia but she snapped back and I thought she would
have to suffer a lot longer, but no.  The doctor tried different things to
keep her agitation low and achieved moderate success with Xanax and Zyprexa.
Nemenda had no effect on anything for her.  Depacote had no effect.  Ativan
sent her into "paradoxical" agitation.  The Xanax seemed to be doing the
best job, and the doctor was having better success giving her small doses
throughout the day and he had been able to cut back on the Zyprexa.  The
drooling problem she had had disappeared.  Thank you all for the support.

Joan