My mom was diagnosed with AD, psychosis and depression in July. Spent 13 days in geriatric psych after calling police during an episode of hallucinating. She has been in a memory care unit for 3 months and is the most high functioning person there. She is a different person after 3 months of 5mg Aricept, Lexapro and two anti psychotic drugs. She was a "wanderer" at her independent living facility. A recent eval done by a dr at the memory care facility showed a 3/5 on the mini cog and the dr is recommending she go to AL. My Mom is still psychotic, insisting she has been kidnapped and is held against her will and the dr has taken all her money, etc. and my sister and I fear for her safety if moved to AL. Her memory care obviously is a locked down unit. We want her to be happy of course, but are afraid a move like this could end up with her being harmed while attempting to hitchhike to live with her cousins (which she has indicated she wants to do), or wandering the grounds and falling. Mom is miserable where she is. She has been miserable the last 10 years because of her mental health issues (depression mainly). We feel like we are robbing her of her happiness, as she would like her privacy and more freedome offered by AL but we fear for her safety is she is moved from memory care. Any suggestions/comments would be welcomed!
I know how you feel about robbing her of her happiness, I have felt that way for some time after my dad was placed in the memory wing of his AL after a mental break. His mind is there, but his body isn't cooperating, makes me wish I could had convinced him to move to the AL sooner.
Wish you all the best.