My Mother, seemingly doing alright although she had bouts of depression which we believed stemmed from the loss of her husband - my Dad. When an officer pulled her over and ticketed her for driving too slow, I went with her to pay the ticket I was told the officer also felt she may not be completely with it.

After taking Mom to the doctor and being told there were no conclusive tests to diagnose Altzheimers she was given anti depressants for the depression and sent home.

In order to restore her drivers license she needed to have pass the DMV vision screening which she nearly failed. I whispered to the DMV to please not restore her license due to dememtia. He gave Mom paperwork to have a physician sign. Mom decided not to pay for another doctors visit and reluctantly gave up driving. Mom was later diagnosed with Altzheimers, only after being directly transferred from a hospital to a senior psychiatric facility.

Mom is the second family member I have cared for with altzheimers, with my Uncle - I had to literally take his car away and store it.