My Uncle Mike

We are in a position where we are looking at putting my uncle into a "partial" care facility. Holy cow is this hard! The poor man has Multiple Sclerosis and Huntington Chorea. Two HUGE disabilities for one single, aged man to deal with.

He doesn't think he needs any help--but just last week he was pulled over (AGAIN) by a police officer who was tipped of that he was driving drunk. Someone had watched him stumble to his truck (the Huntingtons) and had mistakenly thought he was inebriated. Each time my mother is called, where she vows that he doesn't drink but has a hard time walking normally. He walks with a bit of a jittery shuffle. He really shouldn't be driving--but he is in no way impaired chemically.

The main reason's we think he needs to go into a facility is because his kids have all gotten married and moved out of state. His sisters are getting older and finding their own health problems and my mom snowbirds 4 months during the winter in Arizona. He is all alone in the world and isn't very good at remembering to take his medication or even eat for that matter. He's been hospitalized for dehydration three times in the past year, he just forgot to eat or drink anything. He does have one of those talking watches that reminds him to take his medication--but if he isn't home or if he doesn't get to it right away he misses the dose. It's just not working!

So we are spending a lot of time this week trying to find him something that we'll both be happy with. I'll have to let you know what we find!