Friday was the first meeting of the support group I led by myself; Alica has taken a full-time job and will be available once she has her schedule at work set. I invited Steve to join me. We both enjoyed meeting with other family caregivers, hearing their stories and adding our experiences. We spoke of elderly relatives driving "only short distances," or "only where they know the route." I was reminded of my mother's excursions which had her locking herself out of the car with the motor running. Cars are now engineered so that can no longer happen, which is great. Mom also intended to drive to Aunt Lisa's house and never appeared. We were all frantic to know where she was. She returned home several hours later, having gotten lost and eventually finding her way home.I thought of my Aunt Lisa, who backed into a pole when driving from the hairdressers; she was in her late nineties then, but became so frightened she stopped driving voluntarily.
My husband, during the year he travelled with me to New Jersey each week used to take the car and run errands while I saw my patients, until he had a car accident in which he broke his arm. After that, he decided he would no longer drive. He prided himself that he made the decision for himself."No one had to tell me to stop driving," he said often, "I knew when it was time."
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