There was a thought in my head - but it came too late.
Last Sunday I was going to bring a jigsaw puzzle with me on the visit with Mom. Unfortunately, I had left it behind and being in a hurry, forgot to find one at Costco. Doggone it! I’ll have to bring it this next time!
In doing some research, I found many articles that stated puzzles and card games can help stave off the onset of dementia - and it might also delay its impact. Perhaps I’m in the wrong here, but Mom was doing crosswords until July of this year - and she was pretty adept! Cards she hadn’t played in quite a while.
They also state that writing was very good at helping the brain work - Mom slowly began not writing any more letters, cards, notes. In fact, last year on my birthday, she wrote her condolences after she began to celebrate the occasion in ink. This was with some prompting, as she had decided she wasn’t going to write anyone anymore.
Her good friend, Nadya, explained to me that when Mom was first placed in Memory Care she had written over 40 letters and cards. Within a year that had dropped to 20 or so, and then to 10, and finally to nothing. This was tragic, in her eyes, as they considered themselves sisters - but now they were separated by 250 miles, and neither could navigate the journey. Writing was the only connection.
There are sites where you can buy puzzles and games for dementia patients! Whether they truly work to stimulate the brain’s workings is probably (in my opinion at this point) rather individualized; if it can trigger something with Mom, then, perhaps, it could become something we consider to be a regular thing - even bringing in the RLC (her friends, Connie & Jean, who comprise the Retired Ladies Club). It’s less arduous than Scrabble, but one can have a jolly time chatting while figuring the pieces.
It would be interesting to hear from those who have used puzzles and what they found. I’ll continue trying to figure out the puzzle of LBD and Mom in the meantime.
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