My wife and I are at home this evening when we hear a helicopter circling the area. We go out on the deck to look and it's doing tight circles near the end of our road (about a 1/2 mile away) shining a bright spotlight down at the ground.

Wife tells me she saw a post on FB that an older guy with dementia had wandered off from a town about ten miles from here and could be on a road two miles from here. She said he is non-verbal and could easily hide in an unlocked car or shed.

I turned the outside lights on and we locked or doors, something we usually never do.

Ten minutes later I get a call from my buddies wife, they live at the end of the road. He's at work and she just got back from vacation. She unloaded the car and there was something wet in one of the bags so she took it outside to hang up and saw a guy with a stick poking around their woodshed. She asked him what he was doing and, being non-verbal, he didn't answer her. She said it freaked her out and she went back inside and watched him from there.

She said in a matter of minutes there were four state cop cars there and a drone overhead. They bundled the guy up and off they went.

She had no clue what this was all about having just returned from vacation. A cop explained it to her and said, somebody called in the sighting. I'm guessing the helicopter spotted him and directed them to the location.

That's as much excitement as we've had around here since the biggest barn in the county burned down on the property behind my place fifteen years ago..

Wild times. Glad he was found and everyone is safe.

What was Biden doing that far from home?

The write up will likely say they rescued him, rather than captured him.

Keith

Its coming to all of us if we live long enough.
I'll bet he had the biggest time of his life for a good while.

Having tramped thru woods many years looking for both missing children and the elderly; when they are caught up to, they were all tired and hungry, happy to see you. But all elated they had the time of their lives and often had to be convinced to come back to safety.

Didn't pay much attention to the topic of dementia 'til I found my 93 year-old mother on the floor of her apartment one early March morning. The administrator let me in after repeated phone calls went unanswered. There she lay, eyes closed, unmoving. Thought she was dead. I knelt beside her, said "Aw Mom . . " and placed my hand on her forehead. She opened her eyes and asked me what I was doing. She had had a stroke earlier that morning.

She's now in memory care. Those of you who have gone through this know where we've been. It's sad.

She was driving her car in February. She ate right, exercised, did everything the best she could after Dad passed. For months afterwards she asked why did this happen when I took such good care of myself. Now she's quit asking 'cause she doesn't remember. We found out this week she doesn't remember Dad. It's only a matter of time now. Every day is Groundhog's Day for her. When she wakes in the morning she doesn't know why she's there. Last visit I wrote out on a sheet of paper what's happened since early March. I hope she reads it daily.

I'm sure dementia patients are happy to see whoever it is that found them. Whatever folks want to call the finding . . . rescuing or capturing or whatever.

The confusion they are enduring must be absolutely horrible.

I am very sorry for you. You made me cry.......

Now that's funny... I don't care who you are!

Pete

Muskrat, my mother-in-law died from complications of Alzheimer's and I have a dear friend going through it right now. It's a horrible disease.

x10

It has to be terrifying to not know where you are, who people are, who you.

When my daughter was in clinical she had a patient that vitals were spiking and people working with her could not figure out the cause. My daughter walked in looked at the situation and decided it was pure fear and panic. Approached it that way and she got her calmed down vital went back to normal
When she Was describing her day I got to thinking how down right terrifying that would be. I have experienced bad head/ traumatic brain injuries and memory issues directly but had not thought about how scary it would be for the elderly untill then.

I believe it's better to die for everyone involved than to have dementia or Alzheimer's. Those both cause people to basically die before they are dead. I hope they can find cures.

Keith

I hope I'm dead before I can't shoot a .22 off a rest.

Sorry to hear about your mother, Mike. My older brother took an early retirement from his teaching job to care for his wife at home. She had Alsheimer's for several years prior. When he could no longer do it,she went to a nursing home and died in her mid sixties. My brother went into assisted living last fall. He fell a month ago, hit his head and had a bad brain injury. He is now in hospice care. Glad I got to take him on his last fishing trip to the Mississippi backwaters last fall.
Last summer I posted about taking my sister, who has dementia, fishing on a local lake. She has always loved to fish and we had a great time. Earlier this summer I took her and her husband out again. She has really gone downhill both physically and mentally in less than a year and don't think she could recognize me part of the time.
With me rebaiting her hook and giving some never needed before coaching she managed to outfish me and the brother-inlaw. Her daughters told me later in the week they had not seen their mother that happy in a long time and couldn't stop talking about all the fish she caught.
I guess the lesson to be learned here is take someone fishing who can no longer do it for themselves. You never know when it will be their last chance.

My MIL is in assisted living place with Alzheimer's. She has gone thru stages of memory issues.
She is now telling us very wild stories.

Stuff that if you didn't know her you might believe.

Its a situation that you either laugh at how silly her stories are or you almost cry cause of how scrambled her mind is.

I am glad to see this post!! Very educational and needed in my opinion!!! I have worked in elder care for the past 22 years.
I just got off the phone with my brother discussing this topic. Dementia / Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease. Basically the brain wiring system deteriorates. There are many types of Alzheimer’s disease. Bottom line none are good. Unfortunately there is no cure.
If you are going thru this journey with a loved one. Please remember this. They are still there. They just can’t communicate that at times. Or unfortunately not at all.
Please never take it personally what your loved one says during this disease.

This disease changes there personality, there appearance, and physical structure.

Prayers to everyone going thru this. Hopefully they will find a cure.!!!!!

Do you have a problem with that?

Our family has and had many members with demtia. My mother, her dad, her dad's two sisters all died due to complications of demtia. On my mom's side of the family it comes quite early and is aggressive. I have a younger brother who is now 74 and was diagnosed when he was 58 and has been in elder care or a dementia care facility for over 3 years now.
On my dad's side of the family my two aunts developed severe dementia but not until their early to mid 80s. My uncle, dad and most male cousins on that side never lived long enough to develop dementia, due to several other health and lifestyle issues. What a horrible disease or disease complex. Everytime I misplace my keys I get antsy!

Bryce