There is a new drug out for Alzheimers that has been around in other countries but has only recently been okayed here in the states. I can not remember what it is, but I think it came from Australia...don't quote me on that. When I heard how good it was I cried because my mom was already gone and it hurt to think there may have been something that could have helped her but was too little too late, sigh.
I have had both my mom and my mother-in-law stay with me. At one point they were both here...that was interesting. My mother couldn't remember who my mom-in-law (whose name is Margie) was and kept calling her "Louise" and wanted to know why Louise was at my house. I had to make sure I did things "even Steven" because they watched me like a hawk to make sure I didn't play favorites...it was pretty funny. One night my mother (who had gone to bed...I couldn't go to bed until I knew she was sound asleep what with her Alzheimers and all) peaked her cute little bright eyed face around the door of my office and I said, "Hi Mom" and thought she had gone back to bed. Then I realized my mother-in-law was snoring an awful lot louder. I jumped up and there was my mother leaning over my mother-in-law looking in her sleeping face. I grabbed Mom and pulled her out of the room and Mom was saying "What is Louise doing in that bed." Needless to say my mother-in-law started locking her door at night!!!! One day I had a friend come over and we were sitting on the sofa talking and laughing and my moms were sitting in chairs across from us watching us like we were television. It was the wierdest and funniest thing. I guess we were good entertainment.

One thing to make sure you of is that you get time away for yourself and that you take good care of yourself, especially with Alzheimers patients. You get so sleep deprived and worn down. I beat myself up for a while because I didn't do things as well as I felt I should have, and then I read some booklets on caregiving and realized I was just normal and not horrible. (I lost my temper with my mom about three times and yelled at her...massive sleep deprivation) At that point I realized I had to start hiring people to take her places so I could have a break in my own home and also have them watch her here so that I could get away. Merwyn worked a distance away and would be gone for four days at a time if he didn't do overtime. It got so he couldn't do overtime because I would slide down that slippery slope to depression. I needed him so desperately during that time. My mother behaved so much better when Merwyn was home because he could be more upbeat than I could and joke with her and tease her. I couldn't. I had lost my mom and couldn't communicate with her like we always had and she wasn't always sure who I was (sometimes I was her mom and sometimes I was her sister, Doris). Boy, I have just gone on and on. I better stop now.

If your parents are in good enough health and you can afford to do it, you could add onto your house and do a granny flat. We were going to do that for my mother-in-law but she had a stroke and had to be placed in a nursing home.

We have friends who did an addition. They didn't do a bonafide granny flat because here in Winters if you put a stove in it adds $13,000.00 to the permit. So, they did a living area with a wet bar/microwave, a bedroom and a bath so that their parents could have some privacy and get away on their own.