Alzheimer's has been called the "long goodbye," and "fading into the sunset." While these phrases definitely ring true, they do not necessarily reflect some of the practicalities that will emerge.

Many other deaths are sudden, quick or dramatic enough that intervention and care is at the hospital or handled mostly by health care staff. Alzheimer's is not this way, we as caregivers have lots of time to prepare and muddle over the last days.

As is typical, however, most Alzhiemer's resources only give brief mention to the topic of end-of-life. Certainly it's necessary to do what we can to maintain function and living, but it's to our detriment not to prepare for the eventuality.

Here are some links that talk about the details of caring for end-of-life: including things like how to handle constipation, diarhhea, pain, etc.

American Academy for Hospice Care

http://www.aahpm.org/cgi-bin/wkcgi/search?fastfact=1&search=1

American Family Physicians
http://www.aafp.org/afp/2001/0915/p1019.html

Merck Manual for Health and Aging
http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual_ha/sidebars/sb16_1.html

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