Experiencing firsthand how difficult an aging alcoholic, quadriplegic, post stroke, narcissistic, demented or simply ‘nothing’s wrong with me, I can drive, I don’t need those meds, I don’t need to go to a nursing facility’ kinda parent surely gives you some insight on what to do, what not to do and how to prepare for our own aging and eventual demise.
How do you plan to age gracefully and what advice do you have for us all?
In the book series The Stormlight Archive, there is a character whose intelligence changes every day. He takes a test every morning to determine his capabilities for that day. As the ruler of a kingdom, he’s not allowed to do certain things if he’s too stupid, or sometimes even too smart that day.
I think a little test like that would be nice. If you have dementia but can pass a test every once in a while, ok maybe life is still worth living. I figure some days will be better than others. But if you can’t figure out some basic things for like a month straight, maybe it’s time to check out.
Trouble with those tests is, that they become unreliable or even meaningless, when you have done then once before, let alone daily.
Might not be meaningless for someone with dementia. Say it’s a test that asks you simple Qs: what day is it? How many kids do you have? What year is it? Etc.
If you start failing simple Qs, then you’re memory is fading. Although at that point, maybe you don’t even know why you’re taking the test…