Bruce Willis moves into care for dementia

They arelucky they can afford what I sure is a top of the line place...too many of us can't and refuse to put our loved ones in a shithole. Being a care giver 24/7 is a nightmare

To answer your question OP, FTD patients typically live 7 to 15 years after diagnosis, which in most cases, is close to normal life expectancy. BW is 70. He was diagnosed 2 years ago, which means he'll probably live a normal lifespan. I wonder if he's one of the FTD patients who becomes sexually compulsive.

Made a homosexual one.

[quote] I wonder if he's one of the FTD patients who becomes sexually compulsive.

Hopefully they don't assign him any blond twink caretakers.

Poor Bruce. Loved him in Die Hard.

Fucked-up that the press took photos of him in this condition.

My Mom didn't have FTD but she did have dementia. She lasted a year in assisted living. and maybe a week once they moved her to hospice. She stopped eating and mostly slept. I think she knew that that was all there was and let herself die. Bruce may do the same.

I only want to remember him as I first got to know him on MOONLIGHTING. 40 years ago seems like yesterday to me.

He never did anything better than that show.

You young'uns need to look at that photo of him in that car because as much as many of you think you'll never die (trust me I was young once too), you'd be smart to start preparing your mind now so that when reality hits your decades in the future it won't be such a shock. That is if you make it that far as none of us know what will befall us from day to day.

The family moved Bruce to a nearby one-story home with a health team giving him 24/7 care. His wife and younger daughters are visiting frequently for meals and time together.

It can be many years with good care and an absence of co-morbidities. If he has Parkinson's or other co-occurring maladies, his lifespan may be shorter.

Trump's second term normalized giving full press coverage to dementia patients.

Check out the new docu on Netflix about his FTD. It's good and the wife comes across as a caring partner until she says they shipped him off to an apartment.

My cousin's wife recently died of early onset Alzheimer's. She remained in her home with 24/7 care at the cost of $250,000 a year.

R14, who paid for the care?

My cousin.

There’s nothing uncaring about putting your partner into long term care if they have dementia, r13. These patients can be extremely volatile and even dangerous, especially if they are strong men which Willis is. My grandfather had Alzheimer’s and one night he gave my grandmother a black eye and threatened to burn the house down.

R17, not to mention, THEY DO NOT KNOW YOU. You are a stranger to them. It is EXTREMELY stressful to have to remind a dementia patient than you are her son, and she gave birth to you when she pushed you out of her body while she insists "I never had any babies!"

My dad at 86 started on a cognitive decline in the summer of 2018. Before that he was as mentally and physically healthy as could be expected (and the only med he was on was for cholesterol). Dementia ran in his family, which worried us. By the summer of 2019 he was rapidly going downhill (lucky for me my sister's an RN who 'caught' a lot of things to tell the doctor). We put him in an assisted living facility not too far from our homes in November, 2019 and it took him months to adjust. Just when he was adjusting, COVID hit. The last time my sister and I saw him was a few days before his 88th birthday. Then the ALF closed down to outsiders. Somehow he got COVID at the end of May, and died the beginning of June. It was tough on all of us, but in the end my sister and I agree it was best that he went when he did rather than see him struggle for years with Dementia.

He’ll be dead before years end.

My father passed away earlier this year after battling dementia for 6 years. His last year was spent in a memory care facility with excellent care. He became too difficult for my mom to care for him at home. He became aggressive and would wonder off frequently. Dementia is such a horrific disease turning loved ones into people you don’t recognize. It is heartbreaking. He was moved into hospice two weeks before he died. I loved my father but frankly, I am glad he passed peacefully and is now out of pain. I empathize with any family trying to manage a loved one with this disease.

From Did Hard to Die ‘Tard.

My aunt lived in a care home with Alzheimers (I know, different than what Bruce has, but similar...) for NINETEEN YEARS! It was terrible. Nice enough care home but who wants to live like that for decades? When she went in, she would forget where she lived, not recognise her only son, wet herself at least a few times/ week . But by the end of the NINETEEN years, she could not speak, walk, had to be fed intravenously, weighed about 80lbs. I hope that if I ever get dementia, that my death comes mercifully soon.

[quote]I wonder if he's one of the FTD patients who becomes sexually compulsive.

Usually, it's just the FTD Florists.

Is 1-800-Flowers spared?

[quote]Being a care giver 24/7 is a nightmare

And dementia/Alzheimers patients can live for YEARS. I have a friend whose grandfather lived for about a dozen years with Alzheimers, and he was completely out of it the whole time. The family spent a bloody fortune on his care.

What do you mean," How much time does he have left"? There is a full-blown dementia case in the Oval Office. Bruce could be president; he's young enough.

[quote]These patients can be extremely volatile and even dangerous,

This is very common with dementia patients. They can have sudden outbursts of anger and start ranting and raving and they can also be physically violent. It can get to a point where it is absolutely impossible for their family to care for them at home and they have to be moved into a facility that's equipped to deal with this.

I'm sure his wife will.be giving a full minute by minute update

One of the larger care providers in the US has a murder (committed by a resident) in one of it's facilities about every 9 months.

That was my grandma’s experience, R23, but condensed to about 3 years. Her decline from living on her own to being completely non-verbal and bedridden in a nursing home was about 3 years, after which she quickly died. In Canada, the cost for a nursing home is largely subsidized by the government (taxes). Her federal pension went towards her care, with a little left for things like adult diapers and wipes. Her meds were also subsidized- I cant remember what she paid - maybe like $3 per prescription. For a limited time she had in-home supports, which were heavily subsidized. Any nursing care she needed for things like medication assistance was fully covered.

Canada, being a civilized country, knows how to care for its citizens. Unfortunately the US doesn't do that. People go bankrupt here paying for their healthcare.

To be fair, Canada doesn't spend nearly what the US, in its pre-Trump, traditional role as the world's sole superpower & defender of the free world, does on its military. Not that I expect a more isolationist US to pocket its savings to help its aged citizens.

This video went viral awhile ago, and it’s what scares the shit out of me about putting a loved one into a nursing homes

You can see photos of the lady’s family in the background.

Memory Care unit is a nice way of saying they are in lockdown. By that time the patient is violent and runs away if possible.

"Daddy, it's Rumer."

"Who?"

"Your daughter Rumer."

"I have a daughter? Well, nice to meet you. Who are you again?"

"Your daughter Rumer. You have a visitor to see you."

"Who?

"Someone you used to work with. Her name is Cybill."

"Whoever you are, tell her to go fuck herself."

Pity global warming is getting rid of all the ice floes. Eskimos had the right idea.

We should say it with flowers-Bess Flowers…

His "I finally saw my daughter's faces" face.

It’s so random and humbling, how our parents die and what eventually awaits each of us. I have a friend doing caregiving for two elderly parents who are collapsing mentally and physically, and it’s day after day of slow-drip hell.

It is not difficult to feel some compassion for the Willis family but there are so many other families out there living with this kind of ordeal — and without the pile of $$$ that can be tapped and spent down for first-rate care.

I was never a fan of Bruce and now not a fan of his wives and daughters running to the media with every little update and detail of his illness. However I understand even with tons of money it's more than a full time job and more often than not a care facility is necessary.

Lynn Herring, Lucy from General Hosptial, had her husband Wayne Northrop from Days of Our Lives, in a care facility for the last four years of his life with Alzheimers. This was not known and kept very quiet until he died which I respect. Point being, I suppose she had the money to keep him at home but it obviously it was just not sustainable and I admire her for not advertising his illness for those four years.

Of course, the public interest in Bruce Willis was exponentially greater than that of a relatively little-known soap opera actor.

I'm directing my 46th movie.

Is/was he MAGA? I think yes, yes?

I don't think Bruce Willis was MAGA.

[quote] She stopped eating and mostly slept.

This how to do it when you’re ready to go. No medical intervention necessary besides analgesics.

The father of a friend of mine had early onset Alzheimers. He lived with his wife as primary caregiver for nearly 10 years. In the final year, he became quite violent and dangerous to be alone with. Eventually the family put him in a memory care. The memory care home sent him back after 3 weeks, saying he was far too strong and violent for them to care for him. In the end, they quietly euthanized him at home, using the plastic bag and nitrogen method. (Commonly called a suicide bag). This method cannot be detected as a murder/suicide except with a special test for gas in the blood, after all the components have been removed.. It's very sad. I'm sure my friend will remain traumatized for participating until the end of her life. But there was really no choice.

In an ideal world, we could all choose some method like this for us. But since dementia creeps up, I guess people would need to indicate the point at which caregivers, family members, or medical professionals would be given permission to use it, such as "when I can no longer recognize or name any of the family members around me". Because we would know that the situation from that point onward would only get worse and worse.

Meh.

[quote] From Did Hard to Die ‘Tard.

If you drank something from under the sink, the world would be no worse off.

[quote]Is/was he MAGA? I think yes, yes?

No he was a well-known Democratic Party supporter R44. He once made the comment decades ago that he would vote Republican if they could produce a smaller government who spent tax dollars better which the press picked up on. He hasn't been well for some time so he wouldn't have been cognisant of recent politics.

I read that he has now lost the ability to read, speak and walk. It's very sad.

[Quote] [R14], who paid for the care?

I did.

R32 Are you kidding? Canada fucking kills them.

R17 Yep, they can do more than that, too.

No, R72, Canada lets people have choice.

She did the right thing. Caring for someone with advanced dementia of any type is simply more than most anyone is capable of doing. Trying to will only make your life a living hell and endanger your own health.

One of my oldest friends who I worked with for years back in the 70s/80s developed dementia (not Alzheimers) when he was in his late 70s. It started slow but progressed to the point that he would lash out at his wife for no reason at all, at times hitting her and saying the most horrendous things about her and her parents (who he dearly loved when they were alive). It got so bad that on multiple occasions she had to call 911 as she was afraid he was going to kill her. They never took him to jail as the cops recognized there was something wrong and they took him to a hospital. The 4th or 5th time he lashed out she called me and I could hear him ranting about the craziest things. I told her to hang up, go to her bedroom and lock herself in, and I called the police. She told him the cops were on the way after she locked her bedroom door and he quieted down (he was terrified of the cops). Again they took him to a hospital where he had to be tied down to the bed as he was out of control. Over the next 3 weeks they pumped every narcotic they could find into him trying to quell his rage and the only thing that did was turn him into a vegetable. The finally told his wife there was nothing left for them to do and he needed to go to a hospice center. He was transferred and lasted 6 weeks in hospice. The last 2 weeks there he had completely stopped eating and speaking. They eventually stopped giving him any nourishment intravenously and he lasted a few days until he just stopped breathing one night.

My mom ate breakfast, took a nap and never woke up. This was just a couple days after this past Mother's day but looking back, she was falling asleep at the table that day so the body was preparing, I guess. She was in a nice memory care place because she had started getting violent and my brother couldn't deal with that. 98 and strong as a bull. Dementia fucking sucks especially because it adds a lousy chapter to the end of a wonderful life. We were happy that she went in her sleep but the last few years sucked. No getting around that. I'd say that the one bright side was she had the funds to be in one of the better ASL joints so we could all rest easy knowing the care was top-notch. Those places cost a small fortune!

[quote] I'd say that the one bright side was she had the funds to be in one of the better ASL joints so we could all rest easy knowing the care was top-notch. Those places cost a small fortune!

My cousin who had 24/7 in-house care for his wife - to the tune of $250,000 a year - said it would have cost him $150,000 to place her in a memory care facility.

He’s got a year tops

Not the same diagnosis. but Joanne Woodward, having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's as long ago as 2007, is still alive at the age of 95.

I wonder if he even knows his family anymore.

I wonder if Bruce was getting violent with his wife and kids, or God forbid, as they say in the medical field, "sexually preoccupied".

Of course, she would have every right to put him in a separate home if he was pissing on the couch and shitting the bed. No one would want their young kids exposed to that.

His wife was impressive in this week's Diane Sawyer interview, which you can find on Hulu. I watched out of curiosity, having lost too many relatives to dementia, and thought Heming did a good job of balancing her family's privacy with speaking honestly about the challenges of caregiving. She didn't just focus on its emotional aspects, she talked about what a horrible financial burden it is on families less privileged than hers.

The mobility issues referenced at R10 were the main reason(s) he was moved to a second home, but she also mentions practical considerations involving their daughters. The unpredictability of his condition and the amount of care he needs (and the hypervigilance it requires) made it difficult for them to have friends over and do normal kid stuff, and she knew he wouldn't have wanted this to consume their childhoods.

I've noticed that his current wife bears a resemblance to Demi Moore.