Hi Susan,

Yes, he's the fellow.   His grandfather is really all he's got.   So it is a
difficult situation.   Prayers are surely appreciated now.

 My mom fell and broke her hip. She didn't have AD; she had Parkinsons.
But, what I'm trying to say is: they replaced the joint. Mom was so terribly
osteoporotic that the new joint broke through the bone. Pins and screws
didn't do any better. So, she wasn't able to walk and had quite a bit of
pain until she developed scar tissue. She nonetheless managed to live for
another 6 years. Physicians don't like to give patients false hope that
everything is going to be all right. I hope Julian's grandpop recovers
nicely and has a decent quality of life for however long is possible with
AD.
 > My late MIL broke both hips, one in early AD and the second in later
 > mid AD - the two incidents were about 4 years apart. The first she did
 > very well with, since she was well enough to participate in the therapy
 > to get her walking again, and was motivated to work at it (she
 > understood the point of the painful exercises). The second one was the
 > end of walking for her - not because of the injury itself, but just
 > because she was too mentally impaired to cooperate with any kind of
 > physio - we just couldn't get her walking again, and that was the end
 > of that. She lived two years after the second break, so neither
 > contributed to any kind of spiral (the AD did that.)
 >
 > She didn't have complete joint replacement either time, but plates,
 > pins, screws, etc. so in terms of physical impact it was similar
 > surgery.  Both times, by far the worst part of the whole thing was the
 > general anesthesia, which really knocked her on her keister. I've told
 > the story here before that at the time of the first break, although she
 > had an appointment lined up with a neurologist, she hadn't been
 > formally diagnosed with AD. The break ended up causing a 6 month delay
 > in that process, since we had to deal with the hip before the memory
 > issues. She was living alone, driving her car, buying her groceries,
 > doing her housework, and overall, coping fairly well, with some prompts
 > and supports. Coming out of the surgery and in the days and weeks that
 > followed, she was totally loopy (like she'd suddenly lept ahead to a
 > much later stage AD) and the hospital staff would not believe us that
 > she'd been fairly okay prior to surgery. They got social workers to
 > talk to us, wanted her to go straight to a nursing home permanently,
 > berated us about being in denial etc.
 >
 > She did come around most of the way back (not quite where she'd been
 > prior to the trauma, but enough to go home to live alone for another
 > year), but it took some time.
 >
 > So, tell Jules not to despair, but to expect the drugs, trauma, and
 > anesthesia to cause some real confusion in his grandfather. The really
 > important thing is to get him walking again. Its being stuck in bed
 > that does the damage - muscles atrophy, lungs deteriorate etc. Once
 > mobility is lost or seriously impaired, the body really begins to
 > deteriorate.  If he can get his grandfather up on his feet, and moving,
 > things will likely work out well. He can doubtless talk to the
 > physiotherapists and figure out how he can help - encouraging
 > exercises, getting out the walker and the cane and taking him for a
 > stroll around the halls, or eventually around the block with the dog
 > etc.
 >
 > Mary
 >