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[quote=Anonymous][quote]
Any suggestions for clinicians or clinics for an 80-year old just diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s? The neurologist she saw was neither clear or supportive, just put her on a medication and told her she’d have to go somewhere else to explore antibody infusion because of microhemoraging.

We’re on the waitlist for UVA memory care- hoping for a second opinion and some advice on prognosis, planning, etc.

Are there other options?[/quote]

I'm sorry to hear of the diagnosis. My own experience is that the neurologists were fine for diagnosing, but did little for care and treatment. Part of that is that there is not much to do. The one question I would ask is whether she is eligible for Lequembi, which is the only real alzheimer's medicatin that has shown some promise, but also has a lot of risks. We did not pursue it because my mom was already mid stages at time of diagnosis. The other medications (namenda, aricept) can sometime provide small to moderate improvements, more in slowig the progression of the disease.  But honestly, at this point there is not a lot you can do to change the diagnosis or care. What you can, and should do, is start preparing. Get all legal documents in order, start to consider what kind of additional care/help is feasible (in home, assisted livig/memory care). Get wills and such in order. I personally was able to get my mom to reflect on and fill out a "dementia directive" which is like an advanced directive but taking her stage of dementia into account when making medical decisions around care. I got all her financial information and became POA (only after she had been bilked out of a huge amount of money, sadly). Spend time with her now, even as they lose memory they remain emotionally connected and my mom still enjoyed outings, dinner out, music (though she stopped reading), flowers, etc. But also k now that every stage brings new, sad, revelations and just as you get used to one stage and try to adjust to it, the baseline shifts.

prognosis is a tough one. Alzheimers tends to progress more slowly than vascular--my mom was dx' with alheimerz, but I am sure she had mixed demenetia, based on how her declines presented. She was diagnosed in the spring of 2023 and by that time she was probably stage 4, she was in assisted living from midd 2022 and managed to stay there fine until the fall of 2024 at which point i was looking into memory care. She had a sudden steep decline in December of 2024 and we had to move her asap to memory care for her safety. She died in November 2025, and was at a mid stage 6 by t hen, but a fall hastened her demise, which is also a blessing in disguise. She knew who I was until the end, but by mid stage 6 had lost nearly all personal history, short term memory and abiity to get dressed, bathe herself, etc. She was still ambulatory and eating, although finger foods, until she fell. She had started to lose language in early 2025, but it was word salad, and had really stopped talking very much by the time she fell. Again, this is one person's time line, and they vary tremendously.

My only other piece of advice is that if you place her in memory care eventually (in home was not an option for us because my mom moved away from her house to live near us straight to assisted living), prioritize places with a very good ratio of staff to residents. how a facility looks, its 'fanciness' even the "activities"--none of that matters, what matters is ratio, training and longevity of staff and, if possible, choose a non profit, not a PE owned chain.

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