I’m starting to get worried about one of my elderly neighbors. She’s in her late 80’s and over the last couple of years it’s become obvious that her memory is going.

She lives with her son, but he works in the evening and often doesn’t come home until Midnight or the early morning hours. Her daughter lives in the city and visits at least twice a week, but given her mothers condition I think her daughter could possibly be visiting a little more often.

So … since our neighbor is alone quite a bit she tends to turn to my husband and I for company and for help when she can’t do something. She calls us when she hears noises in the house next door … The house between our two homes is empty at the moment, the new neighbors bought it about 4 months ago, but they are renovating sporadically and haven’t moved in yet so it’s mostly empty … but I guess any little noise next door gets our elderly neighbor wondering if it’s the new neighbors or if someone is breaking in.

Also … she sometimes forgets that new people own the house next door and repeatedly asks if they are nice people and so on.

According to our neighbors son and daughter she’s been diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s and she’s taking quite a few medications to help slow the progress of the disease. She’s also taking a supplement called acetyl l-carnitine to help her memory as well.

I’m a nurse and I don’t think her memory and or early Alzheimer’s is all that bad, especially considering that she’s in her late 80’s, but her family is becoming concerned enough that they’re considering putting her in a nursing home. I feel bad for my elderly neighbor, but I also kind of understand her childrens concerns.

My guess is that we’ll have another new neighbor a year from now – even if our elderly neighbor is still alive. She’ll either be living in a nursing home or with her daughter and her son will likely sell the house if his mom is no longer living in the house. That’s my best guess. Our neighborhood keeps changing … especially the houses closest to us. Sigh.