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Old 03-12-2016, 10:42 PM   #1
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Airstreaming with an Alzheimer's patient

Anyone on these forums have experience Airstreaming with an Alzheimer's patient? Camping season is approaching and I'm trying to decide if the trailer is an option.....or we should just stay home in comfortable, familiar surroundings. Mike H
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Old 03-13-2016, 01:29 AM   #2
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Hi, stay home.
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Old 03-13-2016, 03:45 AM   #3
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Surely, you jest.

How could people here know anything of an Alzheimer's patient they are unfamiliar with, so as to recommend anything for you?

If this is a legitimate query, the logical, reasonable people to ask would be medical providers familiar with the patient.

According to your profile, you don't have a trailer....


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Old 03-13-2016, 03:54 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by Lily&Me View Post
If this is a legitimate query, the logical, reasonable people to ask would be medical providers familiar with the patient.
I'm with Maggie on this one. By the time they passed on, both of my parents were showing symptoms. I never would have considered taking them anywhere away from their hometown without consulting their primary care physician first.

Even then I'd be reluctant unless the trip was absolutely essential (such as for a medical procedure), or unless the trip was to a childhood home or other place that is— or was once— intimately familiar to the patient.
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Old 03-13-2016, 03:56 AM   #5
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Ditto x3.

Mike, perhaps as an exercise, could you lay out the pro's and con's of taking the patient on a trailer trip, as you view them?

Thanks,

Peter
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Old 03-13-2016, 05:31 AM   #6
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I would first take Robert's suggestion is ask the patients doctors and explain exactly what is entailed in travailing.

If they OK it, I would then look into a GPS ankle device. All the brain support facilities we visit with our dogs have "safety" doors and every resident has on an ankle bracelet which when they get close to the doors locks them. Plus within the bracelet is a gps tracking device just in case the doors do not function for some reason.

Personally I'd find some other form of entertainment other than this type of traveling.

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Old 03-13-2016, 08:49 AM   #7
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My opinion.

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Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS View Post
Hi, stay home.

My aging parents wouldn't go anywhere. We had family members with dementia and taking them to a restaurant or market was very difficult for them. [and us]

And that's why I said stay home.
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Old 03-13-2016, 08:57 AM   #8
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Surely, you jest.

How could people here know anything of an Alzheimer's patient they are unfamiliar with, so as to recommend anything for you?

If this is a legitimate query, the logical, reasonable people to ask would be medical providers familiar with the patient.

According to your profile, you don't have a trailer....


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Old 03-13-2016, 09:23 AM   #9
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There are, of course, many variations in how Alzheimer's patients respond, especially early in the progression of the disease.
A book that may give you some insight is Yellow Rock, by Jeannie Kish, which is about Airstream motor home owners and their experience with Alzheimer's.
All the best to you. This is a difficult disease to cope with.
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Old 03-13-2016, 10:23 AM   #10
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I went through this for a long time with my late wife, except in a sailboat. Alzheimers is not a static disease and it's very wrong to label every experience the same. Your situation is unique and camping in an Airstream might still work.

In our case, Alzheimers came into our lives while sailing around the world. She absolutely wanted to continue, I less so, but we did continue and it was the very best thing for her. Towards the end of her Alzheimers journey we did transition into the Airstream.

For us, familiarity with space made it work in both situations. Your Alzheimers loved one needs to be comfortable with the Airstream space and that takes time.

Airforums has given me much and I'm disappointed in the tone of some of the replies in this thread. Opinions are mighty easy to toss out there without any real knowledge of a particular situation.

Welcome to the forums anyway, WannaB.

Cheers
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Old 03-13-2016, 10:28 AM   #11
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nicely said pbearsailor....
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Old 03-13-2016, 10:46 AM   #12
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Airstreaming with an Alzheimer's patient

If the Airstream is as familiar as the home is to the patient and the caregiver is able to manage the situation in that scenario (especially early in the diagnosis) then definitely explore the option. The time typically comes when the caregiver too looses their freedom due to this disease which eventually requires intense care and supervision. Shouldn't they take care of themselves and the patient in whatever manner is healthy and enjoyable for them as long as they can?
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Old 03-13-2016, 01:52 PM   #13
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Not being nice to a new forum member (regardless of the question they are asking), does not reflect well on this forum or its members.
You added the bold, I did not, and I threw out legitimate questions. The OP does not appear to have returned.

All new threads are not well intended, nor are they a serious quest for information, and I strongly suspect this is one of those.

To ask for opinions from strangers here, re the feasibility of taking an Alzheimer's patient...whose degree of incapacity we cannot begin to know.... traveling in a travel trailer, struck me as more than a bit bizarre.

And, according to his profile, the OP does not have a trailer. Who is he, and what does he want here?

There are trolls that pop up here on occasion, throwing out odd bits to see what happens or posting threads with inappropriate requests or information....I reported one such thread to the Mods early of a morning just a few weeks back.

If this OP is not one of them, I will sincerely apologize for expressing misgivings regarding their questions...but still refer them to the patients medical providers.



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Old 03-13-2016, 02:13 PM   #14
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I purchased a trailer from a not so elderly couple, the wife with Alzheimer's. The reason they were selling the trailer was that the wife gotten away from the husband caregiver while camping in an unfamiliar place, with no identification. It was a bad situation, though it ended ok. That was their last trip.

I have experience with a friend of mine, my best friend's mother, and my mother-in-law, all three having died of Alzheimer's. In the early stage of their dementia I would have taken them camping. But, in the later stages, when they could not make good decisions for themselves, I would not.
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Old 03-13-2016, 02:15 PM   #15
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I simply highlighted the "not so nice" section of your post in bold font. I think you are making way too many assumptions (OP maybe a troll because he does not have a trailer, he is new, etc). I think the OP is a caregiver asking others to share their experience airstreaming with a patient with special needs.
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Old 03-13-2016, 02:19 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by wannaB View Post
Anyone on these forums have experience Airstreaming with an Alzheimer's patient? Camping season is approaching and I'm trying to decide if the trailer is an option.....or we should just stay home in comfortable, familiar surroundings. Mike H
Hi Mike, wondering if you could give us some more detail about your patient and his or her situation.

Thanks,

Peter
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Old 03-13-2016, 08:19 PM   #17
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Hello again. I have not been on the site since I originally posted last night. Previous to that, I have been absent from the site since the days when we were trailer shopping. No, I am not a troll. Yes, I have a trailer. Thanks to all of you who took the time to reply. We do have ID bracelets and strong resources with our medical community. I was hoping to benefit from the wisdom of people in the trailering community who might have gone through this and am thankful to those of you that provided it. Frankly, the medical community has no experience with this kind of thing at all. Peace, Mike
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Old 03-13-2016, 09:03 PM   #18
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Airstreaming with an Alzheimer's patient

Both of my parents had declining mental capabilities in the years before they died, although I don't know if it was full-blown Alzheimer's. Both seemed to be most comfortable in familiar surroundings. As time passed, they wanted to venture out less and less. The same thing has occurred with other people I have known. I would say just be sensitive to what your companion wants. You might think he/she would benefit from a trailer trip, but if there is no expressed desire to travel, then it probably won't work out well. OTOH, if he/she lights up when you discuss the possibility, then maybe it will.


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Old 03-13-2016, 09:33 PM   #19
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wannaB,

Welcome to the forums.

Inasmuch as my stepfather passed away last year after several years progress of dementia, and having rallied and caravanned with Airstreamers who were in the early stages of Alzheimers, I can claim a little experience.

This decision is really up to you and your Alzheimers patient. If they are accustomed to traveling in your trailer and want to go, I'd say, go for it. You should take precautions against their wandering and disorientation, like identity bracelets and possibly a GPS tracker or cell phone app. (My stepfather was able to use a Jitterbug cell phone until he became innumerate in the last few years of his life.)

The progress of Alzheimers varies widely in different people. You will have to continually reassess the situation. Eventually the time will come when you will have to give it up, but if you can enjoy life on the road together until then, I say, why not.
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Old 03-14-2016, 02:31 AM   #20
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Hello again. I have not been on the site since I originally posted last night. Previous to that, I have been absent from the site since the days when we were trailer shopping. No, I am not a troll. Yes, I have a trailer. Thanks to all of you who took the time to reply. We do have ID bracelets and strong resources with our medical community. I was hoping to benefit from the wisdom of people in the trailering community who might have gone through this and am thankful to those of you that provided it. Frankly, the medical community has no experience with this kind of thing at all. Peace, Mike
I am now apologizing to you for reacting badly.

Some days I am not as nice a person as I want and try to be.

Seriously, tho, this is a judgment only you and others who know your patient well can make, in my opinion.

I recall an incident some years ago when an elderly woman wandered into our campsite, clearly impaired, and I walked with her until we found her husband, a couple of sites down.


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