DEMENTIA AND DRIVING - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Dementia & Driving

“While some people with dementia can keep driving through the early stages of the disease, the condition will eventually cause authorities to revoke the privilege. Driving in the advanced stages of dementia can lead to catastrophic results, including fatal car accidents.”

At Loving Kimmy, I take great care in making sure that we are not promoting any specific business, service, or entity. However, when something of value comes my way, I feel it is important to share that information and or resources, and then add any related real life experiences my wife Kimmy and our family went through. The topic here is Dementia and Driving. The article or study I am quoting and attaching a link to was provided to me by the Warner Law Offices of West Virginia. I found this article to be exceptional in its depth and understanding of the many issues surrounding driving with dementia. The link is here: https://www.wvpersonalinjury.com/dementia-and-driving/

- Bill Ferrell - Founder and President of Loving Kimmy, LLC

Think about the title of this article. “Dementia and Driving” Two words that truly do not belong together. Think of the issues. Getting lost, making dangerous decisions, turning in front of another car, or into pedestrians, all because of the driver’s loss of cognitive ability and executive function decline. When you consider that many people diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s and other forms of early onset dementia are afflicted with the disease before the age of sixty-five, you realize that for many of them, they are still living in a very active period of their lives, working, raising kids, and traveling. The onset of dementia for those under the age of sixty-five can be slow and unnoticed in the beginning. It can also be very rapid as the average life span of someone with Early Onset Alzheimer’s is seven years. Without a diagnosis, we do not expect to see them getting lost or in an accident. If they do, we often chalk that up to them being stressed or preoccupied.

My wife Kimmy was diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease in March of 2012. That was after seven months of testing. Once diagnosed, it is easy to look back at events or situations that were glossed over and dismissed because there was no suspicion of a disease attacking their brain. There were many times when Kimmy called me because she was lost, often with our two young kids in the car, and often just a mile or so from our house of 15 years. I recall being frustrated with her, believing she was just stressed out over loss of work and our financial situation, which was greatly affected by the housing crash of 2008/2009. How could she possibly claim to be “lost” just a mile from our home and in a neighborhood, she often drove through?

There were also a couple of episodes where she was in a fender bender, luckily without the kids in the car. Once, she attempted to make an illegal left turn into a store parking lot, crossing two traffic lanes and a turning lane, and got t-boned by a car moving up to make a right turn at the next intersection. Luckily it was a minor collision. At the time, we chalked it up to a bad decision, not a disease.

Just before Kimmy was officially diagnosed, she had undergone a Neuro Psych exam. This is an exam that covers many areas and usually is done in two parts over two days as it can be four hours or so long. There were two significant revelations that came from that exam. The first was that her IQ was measured at 52. The notes along side the number stated Kimmy was in the “mildly retarded” category. Yes, they still used that word. At least they did in 2012. So, a brilliantly sharp and quick-thinking woman who managed ten other mortgage brokers, was now mildly retarded. The second revelation was that Kimmy had two aphasias. One was a speech aphasia and the other was a visual aphasia. I remember the neuro-psychologist who had conducted the exam demonstrating what that meant. She placed a water bottle on her desk and said that we all see the bottle being in this spot. Kimmy however, sees it being over here. She then moved the bottle two or three feet away from its original spot. If you extrapolate that out in size, scope, and dimension, you can see the potential for massive miscalculations while driving. Kimmy’s license was immediately revoked. Many doctors have the legal responsibility to report unsafe drivers to the Department of Motor Vehicles. When someone loses their license it takes away the independence that person has enjoyed for most of their adult life. It is devastating to them.

Kimmy’s neuro-psych exam results came in just a couple of weeks before her official diagnosis. Kimmy had her independence ripped away from her and then learned that she had a debilitating terminal disease that was going to rob her of her life, her kids, and her husband. Imagine what was going through her mind at that point? Most of us would want to run. Run far away from the disease, life, or whatever. This process often relates to suicidal ideations. Kimmy had these and they landed her in a psych-ward a few times where they tried to manage her emotional ups and downs through various medicines.

I will share one more episode, that is truly hard to share, yet people must be aware of. There were times when Kimmy was in deep depression and harboring unhealthy thoughts. Twice, while being driven by the nanny/caregiver I had hired, Kimmy opened the door and tried to jump out while the car was going 25 or 30 MPH. Luckily, she had her seat belt on. However the second time, after opening the door, she tried to undo her seat belt. Our nanny/caregiver reached over and grabbed the seat belt so that it could not be released and Kim could not escape from it. Yes! This was horrific. Do I think Kimmy was trying to jump out of the care to injure herself or worse? No, I do not. I believe her thought process and executive function were at a point where if she had an impulse, she would act on it, without thinking of the reality or the consequences. I think she had fallen into a depressive thought process and wanted to run away from everything related to the disease, everything that was related to her losing her independence.

So, if you have a loved one diagnosed with early Onset Alzheimer’s Disease, or other forms of early onset dementia, you need to be aware that there are two areas of concern and danger relative to their driving with dementia. The first is their cognitive ability to operate a car safely, and not get lost. The second is their mental stability relative to their disease, and how depression and unhealthy thought patterns may present while they are in a car, driving or as a passenger.

For more information, please visit the above Dementia and Driving link and please visit us at www.lovingkimmy.org