Overall, today's appointment in NYC wasn't too bad. I was afraid that Dr Honig might not want her driving anymore. Good news is that he's not thinking she's a danger to herself or others at this point. This was really great news as not being able to drive could have been a major issue that would surely have depressed her and challenged me too.
The worst news we heard is that Marcia is no longer eligible to participate in any Alzheimer’s clinical trials because of her cancer. Apparently, she will have to be cancer-free for five years before she would be eligible to participate. But that doesn't mean clinical trials aren't going to go on without us. There are many in development and testing. There are drugs being developed and tested to slow progression, stop it and even reverse the disease. Reality is, just slowing it would be considered a huge victory.
We discussed Marcia's aphasia and if we should be doing anything to treat it (i.e. speech therapy). In his opinion, there isn't much she can do to improve her speech. He believes therapy would only frustrate her. That her speech difficulty is about word recall, or memory, and not something speech therapy could help. Not sure I agree with this. We will continue with the Aricept, and he also wants her to take Zoloft for anxiety. Not that she has significant anxiety, but will help her in situations where she is anxious about speaking to people she doesn't know well.
He considers her AD to be mild right now. We'll be back in about 3 months.
No comments:
Post a Comment