Quote:
Originally Posted by BunnyHop
My experiences with my dad were very similar to a lot of issues already mentioned.
In terms of structural stability, his feet were physically damaged and couldn't provide the sort of balance help they once did. (Fallen arches, foot changes from long term muscle, bone and nerve related issues, nerve damage that affected the way his bones healed, arthritis, broken bones he couldn't feel, wounds that would develop on his feet that needed casts and bandages and non-weight bearing, etc.) The older he got, the harder it was for him to manage.
His own fear of falling played a huge role in his general decline. He fell repeatedly over the years, at one point breaking a leg and winding up alone on the floor for hours one night til he turned over a table and the crash woke me up. After that he was pretty much wheelchair dependent. He'd participate in rehab immediately after the latest injury, mostly so he could go home, then once there, he'd just slide back to his just-enough-to-get-by habits. Naturally this lead to a general decline.
Over and over, he'd be astonished to find that he wasn't physically able to just get up and do things. It was a huge struggle, and wildly stressful for both of us.
Toward the end of his life, I do think his growing dementia played a role in his inability to calculate the level of risk he might be in, his inability to recover once he lost his balance, etc.
His sense of bodily proprioception got worse and worse both because of his nerve damage and his general physical decline. He lost muscle memory because he'd quit being active.
Sorry to ramble, but it was a long, slow process, made more difficult by the limitations of his insurance and his own unwillingness to be proactive.
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Anna, i remember how you described how lovingly you cared for your dad, and i appreciated your description of how various factors led to his decline. it's a good lesson for me to read this.
my mom was caregiver to several elderly people, including caring for my dad while also being a senior herself!
my grandpa was living with my mom before he passed. he loved working in the yard and it was his form of exercise. he did it until age 90 when he passed away. he wore rubber slippers and i think this kept his feet muscles agile.
one day the neighbor found him laying down on the grass - he fell, couldn't get up but wasn't injured! he has a soft voice, so i don't think anyone could hear him. when my mom got home, she was shocked to hear what had happened - by then he was up and about.
that day, my brother installed railings all over the yard using metal pipes from Home Depot. my mom left chairs in various parts of the yard so that he could take breaks. he owned a quad cane but didn't need it when working out in the yard.