June 22, 2022

We just had John's neurology appointment. We have one every 6 months. The Dr gave John the MMSE and his score dropped another couple points to 8. I asked if that was in the severe category, but the Dr thinks he's close, but not there yet. The score could put him in the severe category, but since he's able to do some daily living activities on his own, he's probably still at the low end of the moderate stage. He needs help dressing and brushing his teeth, but he can still feed himself and he can still use the toilet unassisted. Sometimes he needs a verbal reminder of why he went into the bathroom, but he's able to use the toilet on his own. Thank God. Esamples of a couple of the questions John could answer on the MMSE are the state and city he's in. He didn't know the current month or year, and thought the season was Christmas. He couldn't copy a simple drawing of shapes, didn't know what floor we're on in the house, couldn't spell 'world', couldn't write a sentence about the weather, couldn't remember 3 words, couldn't follow simple written or verbal instructions to close his eyes or fold a piece of paper. I asked if we could get another MRI of his brain to see the changes that have occurred in the last 5 years, so the Dr agreed to that. The Dr said it sounds like the current medication cocktail is working and recommended we stay on that course. The Dr asked me if I have made any plans for additional care. I admitted that I haven't made any tangible plans, but agreed to have some information sent to me so I'll have it when I need it. My goal is to delay that as long as possible, both for practical as well as financial reasons. For now daycare at EasterSeals makes that possible.