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Hernando Today

Telephones and Alzheimer's

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By GARY JOSEPH LeBLANC Common Sense Caregiving

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 8, 2009

Commencing with my dad's earliest onset of Alzheimer's, it became obvious answering the telephone was becoming an issue.

Back then, my father was still sitting behind the front counter of our bookstore. If he managed to grab the phone before I got to it, I would witness this blank gaze evolve across his face.

Sometimes he stayed completely voiceless as he held the receiver to his ear, then slowly place it back on its base.

When I asked him who had just called he would just nonchalantly respond, "Heck if I know." I realized we wouldn't be in business for very long if this continued.

I purchased a wireless headset and removed the telephone from behind the counter. This prompted my father into asking me straight out, "So, I guess you don't want me answering the phone anymore?" My heart sank deep into my chest as I told him "No, I think it would be best if I cared for all business calls from now on."

Another problem was the phone in our store also rang in our house. I would be talking with a customer when all of a sudden my father would be voicing his two-cents-worth from our kitchen.

Asking him to please hang up was pointless. Eventually I shut off all the ringers on the phones near him in the house, until our bill for long distance started having randomly dialed international calls.

Finally this left me with absolutely no choice but to remove all phones in our house, except for one which stayed in my sleeping quarters.

More than one fellow caregiver has told me that their patient has formed a habit of dialing 911 just to talk with someone.

Expecting Alzheimer's sufferers to write messages down was just wishful thinking, but this is where caller ID is useful; at least you can look back and see who called.

Call forwarding also became handy; at times I would have all our calls transferred to my cell phone.

I'm just warning you that as Alzheimer's advances, your telephone will without doubt become a dilemma. If you plan ahead and anticipate changes, it will prove to be a caregiver's blessing.

Gary Joseph Le Blanc was the primary caregiver of his father for more than eight years after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He can be written c/o Hernando Today at 15299 Cortez Blvd., Brooksville, FL 34613 or e-mailed at us41books@bellsouth.ne

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