Signs of decline?

Alzheimer's is supposed to be a slow, steady decline. If there is a sudden obvious decline in cognitive function, it is usually due to another underlying health issue, such as an infection.

I think I have been noticing decline in my mom's cognitive function these past two or three weeks. But I don't think it's due to other health issues, because she very recently got a clean bill of health after having a checkup and a full gamut of tests done.

She has become obviously more confused about everything, and it's getting harder for her to find words and make any sense when she speaks. She's back to being in a bad mood every day. Her memory has become very noticeably worse -- for example, she just returned home from staying at my brother's house for 4 days, and within two hours of returning home, she didn't even remember she had been there. It used to be that she'd remember being there, but couldn't remember the details of what she did there. And ominously, I am starting to see a distinct perpetually vacant and slightly frightened look in her eyes.

The change hasn't happened overnight, but it has been steady over a surprisingly short period. I'm not sure if a large part of it is emotional, due to her being unhappy and anxious about having started home support. It is possible that she'll "even out" if and when we can reestablish a more routine schedule for her again.

We opted to try out the government-subsidized home support to start with. They are of course much more affordable, but they can't provide all-day care and they send different people all the time. I think this is very difficult for my mom. But maybe she will get used to it. It is worth trying. But I know at some point we're going to have to consider private home care, for consistency, time coverage, and for quality of care.

In fact, I do suspect that this decline I am noticing is in fact the rapid onset of her disease, irrespective of the recent stress she has been experiencing. Therefore, I think we have to be prepared for the possibility that she will decline to the point of her needing to move into a care home a lot sooner than we may expect. A few months ago, I would have expected that she could live in her home for another 2 or 3 years, but if this rate of decline keeps up, I think it's more realistic to expect it in a short as 6 to 9 months!