One thing I did learn really quickly about Alzheimer's is that a person who develops AD, will develop a problem with their vision regarding spatial understanding. By the time my mom was diagnosed, I began going to her house more often to check on her. Remember, my mom was young when the disease presented itself in ways that made us realize she needed to see her doctor. So even after she was first diagnosed, she didn't immediately quit working or stop driving.
The first side mirror I had repaired on my mom's car was in 2007. I remember going out to the garage to put the trash out and saw her mirror hanging from the wires. When I called her out to see, she had no idea how that happened and truly thought it just fell off. Luckily our great auto mechanic at that time sent me to a really wonderful body shop guy who was able to repair the mirror easily and reattached it with minimal cost.
About six months after the first mirror issue, my mom called to tell me someone hit her mirror in the parking lot at her job. I immediately went to her house to check on it and discovered that the passenger side mirror was gone. Well, gone from her car. It was, however, in her garage and it was obvious to me she had hit the side of the garage door pulling in or backing out. I gathered the mirror and headed back to my new friend at the auto body shop. He was not able to salvage the mirror this time but he did find me one from a junk yard that he was able to paint and reattach. His own grandmother suffered from the same disease so he was very kind and encouraging to me. He asked me to watch for other signs such as tire issues or checking for scratches and dents. I went back to my mom's house and noticed that she had run the car into the back shelves in the garage.
Through much research and many actual real events with my mom, I can tell you I found out that you do not want to ever argue with someone who has AD.. They have not ability to understand if their mind is made up. As far as my mom was concerned, someone else hit the mirror (though there was a dent in the garage wall and it was on her floor). Someone else ran the car into the shelves, though the shelf unit was dented and things were astray on the floor and there were scratches on her front grill grate. And eventually some one else flattened her tire and drove it on its rim to the bowling alley.
I remember that the extra work it meant for me those days was not what crossed my mind. Sad, it wasn't even the fact I knew my mom could get hurt. I was most concerned and worried that my mom was going to hurt someone else. Knowing if she could no longer drive I would have to drive her everywhere, I still had to find a way to keep her from driving for her own good and the safety of others. Remember, I promised my dad I would always take care of her. This would not be an easy task to undertake.
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