What a day!

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 7:27 am

My father-in-law went missing yesterday. He is 81, and has Alzheimer's. He got up early in the morning, took the car keys, and left home. He gave up driving about a year ago. When Mom got up, she found him missing. She called friends, church, and the police. Everyone was out looking for him. They even issued a Silver Alert (like Amber Alert, only for the elderly.) They finally found him in Nebraska in the late afternoon. They live in northern Kansas.

We're glad to have him home, but it was a scary day.

Love, Martha

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 8:00 am

Oh, I am so relieved to see the happy ending. How frightening!

Hugs,

Polly

draperygoddess · Post by **draperygoddess** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 8:02 am

Martha, so glad he was found! Can't imagine how worried you all must have been.

Post by **tex** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 8:57 am

I'm glad that everything turned out OK.

I have a hunch that something such as that is probably a part of the primal wanderlust that still exists in us. When I was about 3, one warm summer morning, I decided to go visit my uncle and aunt, who lived about a mile and a half from us. So I struck out on my tricycle, and was about a third of the way there, when another aunt happened to come along, on that otherwise deserted country gravel road, also on her way to visit them.

I've been told that I put up a good long argument, but she finally persuaded me to go with her, so we loaded my tricycle in the trunk, and took off again. Of course, she took me back home, instead, and I never forgave her for thwarting my travel plans.

Tex

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:52 am

Oh, my goodness, Martha - what a relief that he's OK, and found, and safe.

I agree with Tex... my mother used to get comments from people about my brother - "I'm surprised you let that tiny little boy ride his bike alone all the way downtown..." and my mother would ask "WHERE exactly was he???" Of course he wasn't "allowed" to do that. He was so little, it hadn't even occurred to her to "forbid" him from traveling that far on his own!

I hope he wasn't too frightened. (And I hope he didn't enjoy the trip enough to make another any time soon.)

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:21 am

Wow... I am so glad that everything turned out okay, Martha. Have you heard of Dr. Mary Newport? She gained a first-hand experience with Alzheimer's when her husband was diagnosed at age 58. She is a doctor who takes care of premature babies, and her husband was her office manager. Her story of how he responded to coconut oil in his diet is pretty amazing. I know that I am one among many who can testify as to how coconut oil in my diet has significantly increased my brain power (on top of the gluten-free effect), and I don't have Alzheimer's, thank the good Lord.

Anyway, here is her website: http://www.coconutketones.com/ and here is the link to the original article she wrote in 2008 about her experience: http://www.coconutketones.com/WhatIfCure.pdf. Hope it helps, at least a little.

Post by **tex** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:19 pm

Marliss,

This is exactly in line with Dr. Senoff's recommendations about treating and/or preventing Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's, (according to Stephanie Senoff), is a disease caused by inadequate amounts of cholesterol and associated fatty acids in the brain and spinal cord. Coconut oil contains a large amount of lauric acid, a saturated fat that raises blood cholesterol levels by increasing the amount of HDL cholesterol.

http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/alzh ... atins.html

Tex

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Tue Nov 01, 2011 10:26 pm

Martha,

How very scary. Anything could have happened to him. I'm pretty amazed that they were able to find him. He must have filled up his gas tank along the way.

Marliss & Tex,

If I could tolerate coconut products...

Gloria

MaggieRedwings · Post by **MaggieRedwings** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 5:08 am

Morning Martha,

So happy to hear that things turned out all right but what a frighteing case for your MIL and the family. Just heard something yesterday on the news about a new sneaker being developed for alzeiheimer's patients. It has a GPS chip in it that can be tracked so the person with the disease who wanders away can be tracked to their location. I quite innovative idea since this seems to be a frequent occurrence with Alzheimer patients.

Love, Maggie

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 12:49 pm

It turns out that Dad was stopped for speeding in a small town near Omaha. That's over 250 miles from home. The sheriff held him until Mom could arrange for someone to go get him. He had stopped for gas, which he couldn't pay for, and the gas station guy let him have the gas, and gave him his card, so he could mail payment! When Mom phoned the gas station to ask about his car, he explained all this. Dad didn't remember any of it. After Dad filled up his tank, he went back in and said he needed gas for his mower. The man reminded him that he had already filled his tank. He told Mom that at that point he wondered if he should call the authorities because Dad was acting strange, but he didn't.

Dad didn't know that he had caused a lot of trouble, and when two men from church arrived to pick him up, accompanied by Mom, who thought he might be upset, he just got in the car like nothing had happened!

Marliss, I found Dr. Mary Newport's site back when I was first researching coconut as an anti-diarrheal, and passed it along to Mom. She's been giving him a spoonful of coconut oil on his oatmeal ever since, over a year now. Thanks for linking to that.

Maggie, I looked up those GPS shoes. It sounds like a fantastic idea, except for the price--$300 for the shoes and $35 a month for the monitoring service. Somebody should invent cheaper ones!

Thanks for all your concern, encouragement, and suggestions of things that might help.

Love.
Martha