You missed ALL the excitment!

[PinkMartini]

I board and do evening chores. Well I drove out to the barn and I noticed Booger acted odd. Well I stop at the gate and turn the truck off and start to go get his feed.

Great Googly Moogly! What is going on!? :eek::confused::eek: Out of nowhere this older lady appears with a dog. She has no idea how to get out of my pasture! This dog is lucky that he is not dead as Booger despises dogs and tried his hardest to get this dog. So I open the gate and try to find out what she is doing there. She is completly disoriented. I have never seen this lady in my life! So she tells me, "Lets go. I got to get out of here before he finds me." She then proceeds to climb into the bed of my truck. Umm... At this moment I have NO clue on what to do.

So I grab the keys and lock the doors to my truck and run to find the property owner. Asked what his address is. Then I tell him what has just happend. So he walks out to see if he knows the lady. He has never seen her before either!!

I then grab my cell phone and run off to call 911. They got there quick! Turns out she has Alzheimers. Her husband had been hunting for her for the past hour! He seen the emergency vehicles come down the road and followed them hoping that they were going to where his wife was.

He told us last time that something like this happend she was missing for 3 days and had over 1,000 people searching for her.

I have never been that terrified in my life! I'd rather ride a thousand rank broncs then to have that happen to me again!

[ReSomething]

Well, Thank God you showed up. Many years ago a coworkers mother wandered off from her care home and was not found for many many months. She had sat down under a nice tree and eventually passed away there, far from where her family was frantically searching. You did good even if it was freaky!

[PinkMartini]

Yeah I know. It just creeped me out big time! Never had I ever thought something like that would happen to me!

After he had got her back in his vehicle he thanked me for doing what I did. And took her home.

[twofatponies]

Wow, how weird! At least she was mostly harmless!

[Trevelyan96]

Wow. So great that you were able to help.

The joke in my house is that after so many horse related blows to the head, when dementia does settle in, DH will just load up the horses and I, drive us out to the middle of nowhere, and if we find our way back home, he's stuck. :lol:

[gloriginger]

okay I don't mean this to sound rude, even though it probably will, but what were you afraid of? From your story it sounds like she was a confused old lady- was it that she said he was coming? Sorry- I just don't understand why you'd say you'd never been more terrified in your life.

[PinkMartini]

Because nothing like that has ever happend to me. And I was alone and she kept telling me someone was looking for her.

And by all the bumps/scrapes/brusies on her, I didn't know if he put them on her or she got hurt in the woods. And if he had been the one that did, I didn't want to be the next one to have them.

Plus this place is in the middle of nowhere. So it's not everyday people come wandering up through your pasture.

[MistyBlue]

*Sigh* Dementia and Alzheimers are so sad...so hard on the family and on the person suffering from either. :no:
It seems at least a couple times per month the news here has a story of some elderly person who wandered off lost and their frantic family members trying to find them. Scary as heck in winter with cold temps too.
It can be scary for someone who hasn't been around someone with those issues...they can come across as really nutty and scary or seem very sane and with-it and you may believe whatever fantasy their experiencing...like someone coming after them.
Just remember if it's an elderly person it's most likely some form of dementia and just be calm around them and tell them kindly but firmly to stay with you while you find help/call authorities. They seem to respond better to being told point blank what to do.
I think you did well...I'm sure it was a creepy surprise, nobody expects those things to happen.

[gloriginger]

Ah, that makes a lot more sense.

There was an eldery man with Alzhemiers a few years ago on Cape Cod that got disoriented and drove into the harbor- right before Christmas. It was very sad, his family was looking for him for days, someone eventually spotted the back end of the car. :(

[EqTrainer]

You did great :) You should be so proud of yourself. And your horse, for not killing her doggie!

[scpezold]

How scary for you but you seemed to keep your wits about you. Great Job! :yes: One of our friends grandmother recently passed away from old age (I believe she was in her 90s). She never wandered off and I don't believe she had Alzheimers but they did question why she stored her purses in the dryer :eek:

[PinkMartini]

Oh he tried! He tried so hard! The fire/medical workers were there and I was running around screaming "No Booger! NO! D*&m it! Don't kill the dog!" This is one time when I wish he had a halter on!

Atleast now, if it happens again, I will know where to return her.

And for everyone I that said I did a good job, Thank You.

[TikiSoo]

Glad you kept your cool!

I was primary caregiver for my grandma who had Alzheimers. She wandered off one day and I got a call from a very nice woman 2 miles away who recognised the situation & offered granny ice cream on her porch! I came to pick granny up and thanked the woman profusely.
A few years later, that woman became a boarder at my barn. We were so surprised to see each other again! Horse people are the BEST!

[Valentina_32926]

I'm surprised they didn't have something like "dog tags" or an ID bracelet on her with emergency contact information, especially if this has happened before.

[Guin]

That's really sad. What an unfortunate thing to happen. The poor woman must have been terrified.

Good for your horse to not hurt the dog or the lady!

[shea'smom]

An older gentleman around here just went missing. He went out at 10 pm fpor cigarettes and to "go to work". he was gone for two days before he was found in his wrecked car.
thank goodness you were able to help.:D

[Penthilisea]

At the risk of sounding cold, could we micro chip people who are prone to dangerous wanderings? So we can ID them when we find them (Not track them- no sending a signal or such, just ID).

Or maybe tattoo ID like memento!

I'm thinking about how we take care of our horses, via micro chips, brands, and tattoos... We MUST be able to figure out a good system to help folks who need it...

[MistyBlue]

I saw a locator bracelet type thingy advertised on TV once...I only saw the tail end of the commercial so I don't know what circumstance they were advertising it for...probably for children in case they wander off in malls or parks. But could work on the elderly who have dementia I would think.
I'd be panic-stricken if I lost a parent with Alzhiemers...just watching over them has to be a 24/7 high stress job. Not to mention heartbreaking watching them slowly disappear while they're still there. :no:

[tle]

You done good. I would have been a bit scared as well, not only because of what you described but because some ALZ folks can turn violent on a dime. My grandfather had ALZ and put some wicked ass bruises on my grandmother with his cane. He didn't have a clue who she was much less what he was doing.

[theoldgreymare]

Poor lady! I have had a grandmother and grandfather with Alzheimer's and it is a horrible, frustrating and frightenting disease. I say she is lucky you showed up when you did. To be lost and roaming around this time of year the outcome for her could have been terrible.

[aspenlucas]

I'm so glad you were there. Sorry but when you said she climbed into the bed of your truck I spit my oatmeal out. :) You see if I drive my truck to work, I check the back of the bed for any illegal immigrants. :) I work in Hazleton and well...you just never know there!

[PonyPile]

hmmm, I wonder if you are in my area..
We have a little old lady that has alzteimers and a love of the outdoors.
She also was missing for three days in the fall. The whole city was looking for her, they even had a helicopter searching from the air. We walked the bush for a bit, and only found other searchers.

Iam glad you found that women before she was hurt. Her comment...Is is it possible she is being abused?

[tazz001]

My FIL (who has recently passes) had stroke related dementia. It was miserable at times. We knew what was coming when hw was diagnosed and pretty much forced the in-laws to move in with us as there was no way MIL could care for him on her own.

Even with 3 adults living in the house (hubby, myself and MIL) and 4 kids Pops still managed to cause problems. It was like living with a toddler that was into everything cept worse because Pops could reach everything.

I am glad you called the authorities and even happier that the caregiver was out looking.
Thanks for looking out for her (even thi you didn't intend to)

So please everyone...when you see a disoriented elderly person, look out for them and call the authorities. That person is loved by someone (hopefully) and that person is more than likely frantic with worry. I know I would be and would be thankful to have my loved one back home safe and sound.

[PinkMartini]

Penthilisea - You may be on to something! (Oh and thanks for reminding me of having to get Booger microchipped!)

aspenlucas - I know what you mean! There used to be quite a few of them around here. And after I would go to the gas station I would check the back of the truck like 5 times before I would leave!

hmmm, I wonder if you are in my area..
We have a little old lady that has alzteimers and a love of the outdoors.
She also was missing for three days in the fall. The whole city was looking for her, they even had a helicopter searching from the air. We walked the bush for a bit, and only found other searchers.

Iam glad you found that women before she was hurt. Her comment...Is is it possible she is being abused?

When she was missing for three days they were in GA. They have since relocted to FL (But have only been here for less than a month) So it may be possible as he said it was quite cool/cold when it happend.

I honestly don't know if she is actually being abused or if it had happend while she was in the woods as she had been missing for around an hour. She was completly disoriented and I could barely make any sense of her.

But from now on I will be keeping my eyes open for her.

* And for anyone who has lost someone (either a Family member or a friend) I am sorry for your loss. *

[Foxhound]

I'm not ruling out that she could be abused, but when my grandmother developed Alzheimer's and started wandering, she frequently talked about trying to get away. It later turned out that she thought it was about 70 years earlier, and she thought she her mother was going to punish her. Sometimes people with this disease relive incidents from decades in the past.

It's a good thing you were out there. We were thankful for people like you when my grandmother was still alive.

[spaghetti legs]

yes.. i've been told that commonly, people with dementia regress back to childhood memories.. or think that they are children again. Poor dears...

My nanna had terrible alzheimers and eventually died. She used to carry a baby doll around with her everywhere... She was in a home and all the old ladies had baby dolls.. it was kinda cute in a terribly sad way.