I ended up being the primary caregiver for six octogenarians. 4 of them had dementia, in varying degrees. This was from 2009 through 2019. 2021 if you count the time my MIL was in a skilled nursing facility.
The cognitive assessment “should” be done at 70, just to get a baseline. Then every year after that. Since I was taking them to appointments, I got to sit through them.
My mom progressed fairly quickly. I sat through at least five with her over 4 years. As she moved through the system, everyone wanted to do their own.
One tip—the picture isn’t a camel; it’s a dromedary. If you say that, it will get a laugh out of the doc.
I was so tired, taking care of these people and their issues…that one time one of the 85 year olds got a higher score than me.
They are not “stressful”, but if you cannot write a clock face it really kicks up the anxiety.
Look up Montreal Cognitive Assessment Tool. I guess as I get older…i should pull it out and practice.
Kudos. Quite a journey.