Alzheimers - The Doorbell Rings

[BlackDog]

About 90 minutes ago I was on the computer in the family room, my wife was in the kitchen, and the doorbell rang. I assumed it was UPS or USPS, so I didn't go to the door. But my wife called for me since she could see from the kitchen window that it was a man at the door. Turns out that it was an elderly man, Bob, went out for a walk and got lost, and came to our door to ask for help.

He knew his full name so we were able to look his phone number up in the phone book and call his family. His wife was worried and neighbors were out looking for him. It ends up that he has Alzheimers, lives on the next block over, and I can see the roof of his home from my front window. So we gave him a cup of coffee and then took him home.

His wife was sort of embarrassed when we brought him home, but we tried to put her at ease. Honestly, we were very glad he had the presense of mind to come to our door and ask for help. I get the sense that they are very lonely, and that the days are long, and we stayed for a little while to visit.

Since we often go out for walks with our 2 year old son, we said we would walk over from time to time and pay them a visit. It's hard to imagine that someone with a seemingly strong, healthy mind can develop such bad dimentia. Very sad, but a blessing that we were able to help.