Watching a Friend Fade Away: A Nurse’s Account of the Progress of Dementia

Illustration by Eric Collins, ecol-art.com. All rights reserved. Illustration by Eric Collins, ecol-art.com. All rights reserved.

By Jacob Molyneux, senior editor

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia have been in the news. There have been major movies about what’s it’s like to suffer the gradual loss of the ability to understand and to negotiate the world around us, with leading roles played by stars like Julianne Moore. The challenges of caregiving are receiving increasing attention, as are the growing pressures on our medical system. Every month there’s a report of a new potential cure, or a potential cause, or ways we might be able to fend off the illness through exercise, mental calisthenics, diet, and medications.

The January Reflections essay, written by Deborah Lane, a critical care nurse and community volunteer in St. Augustine, Florida, is called “Watching a Friend Fade Away.” Here’s the opening paragraph:

Frankie was a fast wit, a ginger-headed joker, impeccably dressed, and the first to laugh. She was a master’s-educated teacher who developed programs for at-risk teens, teaching pregnant high school students skills for employment and effective childcare. She loved to cook and her home was warm with beautiful arts and crafts she had made. She was a wonderful friend. Disease changed it all.

The author brings the perspective of both a loving friend and a nurse to this short, beautifully told account of the changes in her friend over the years, the efforts of two couples to keep spending […]

2016-11-21T13:01:38-05:00December 29th, 2015|narratives, nursing perspective, patient engagement|0 Comments
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The Delicate Dance for Stability

By Patricia O’Brien

Loïe Fuller sketched by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec/via Wikimedia Commons Loïe Fuller sketched by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec/via Wikimedia Commons

In college I got a part-time job as a companion to an elderly widow named Fran, driving her around town and assisting with errands: post office, hairdresser, the market, her psychiatrist. The routine was set, and all was well for many months.

But one day, something unusual happened. Fran opened her door with a grand flourish, eyes shining. The television, radio, and blender were blasting. “Shall we go,” I asked, hurrying to turn off the noisy electronics.

“Fran,” I observed, “the blender’s empty.”

“Let’s not bother with tiresome details. I’m out of my head today,” she said, with purposeful excitement. At the pharmacy, this time, I took notice of the medication I picked up for her: lithium.

“What’s lithium for?” I asked, sliding into the car.

“A bipolar disorder. Not to worry. I’ve navigated these choppy seas half my life.”

We did errands. All the while, she acted like she was on the campaign trail for mayor, laughing, waving to friends, and smoking up a storm. At the market she hugged the meat manager, who was arranging Italian sausages. He looked confused, but smiled and told her there was a special on calf’s liver.

“I’ll take it all,” she declared, making […]

2016-11-21T13:02:57-05:00February 23rd, 2015|Nursing, patient experience, Patients|1 Comment
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‘Suppose a Client Went Out of His Room’: Study Explores RNs’ Use of Surveillance Technology in Residential Facilities

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

“If people are for instance walking around in the units, well, then they could do all sorts of things . . . ”—study participant

Table 2. Surveillance Devices and Their Use in the Selected Care Facilities Table 2. Surveillance Devices and Their Use in the Selected Care Facilities

Surveillance technology in residential care facilities for people with dementia or intellectual disabilities has been touted both as a solution to understaffing and as a means to increasing clients’ autonomy. But it’s unclear whether surveillance technology delivers on its promises—and there are fears that its use could attenuate the care relationship. To explore how nurses and support staff actually use this technology, Alexander Niemeijer and colleagues decided to conduct a field study. They report on their findings in this month’s CE–Original Research feature, “The Use of Surveillance Technology in Residential Facilities for People with Dementia or Intellectual Disabilities.” Here’s a brief summary.

Methods: An ethnographic field study was carried out in two residential care facilities: a nursing home for people with dementia and a facility for people with intellectual disabilities. Data were collected through field observations and informal conversations as well as through formal interviews.
Results: Five overarching themes on the use of surveillance technology emerged from the data: continuing to do rounds, alarm fatigue, […]

2017-07-27T14:43:52-04:00December 15th, 2014|nursing research|0 Comments
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If She Yells ‘Help Me’ – Poster Therapy to Convey the Needs, Identity of an Ailing Parent

Joan Melton, MSN, lives in Indiana.

Photo by Ann Gordon, via Flickr Photo by Ann Gordon, via Flickr

I am a geriatric nurse practitioner and have also been the daughter to an ill, aging parent. I felt well trained for my professional role but struggled with the latter.

I joked that, despite my logical understanding of what was going on with my mother, it could be hard to accept her physical and functional changes, which sometimes seemed to fly in the face of logic. There were days Mom’s hospice nurses spent more time with me than with my mother. They’d sit and allow me to vent my frustration at watching my mother slowly leave me, at feeling overwhelmed and “losing my cool” with her, at not being able to practice the advice I’d so readily handed out to so many other families over the years, not being able to “fix it” and successfully comfort all of Mom’s fears and ailments 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Yes, I know how unrealistic that last statement sounds. Thank goodness for hospice nurses, who reminded me that I was “the daughter” and did not need to be “the nurse practitioner.” They reminded me that as the daughter I had amazing insight no one […]

2016-11-21T13:04:15-05:00July 23rd, 2014|Nursing, Patients|7 Comments
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Questions Dementia Patients Can’t Answer

by Ann Gordon, via Flickr Photo by Ann Gordon, via Flickr

By Amy M. Collins, editor

A few weeks ago I visited my grandmother, who suffers from dementia, at her assisted living home. In her room, my family and I noticed a complicated form with instructions for residents to get their flu vaccination. Residents had to fill it out, sign it, and bring it to the person administering the vaccine on a certain date. For my grandmother, this would be impossible—she can no longer remember what day it is, when or if she has eaten, who she’s spoken to within the last five minutes, or where her room is located.

When this concern was broached with the front desk of the facility, they seemed to be adamant that she needed to have the form with her on the day of vaccination. We could, of course, help her fill it out—but since it had been given directly to my grandmother, who was to say we would have ever learned of it except by chance? And who would make sure she brought it with her on the day of vaccination?

While the facility offers assisted living, they often remark that they are not a “dementia facility.” Looking around, however, one is hard-pressed to find a resident […]

2016-11-21T13:05:26-05:00February 11th, 2014|patient engagement|14 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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