dementia patient hit by train

The first time my dad went missing, he was really lost.  The second time, though, he was angry.  He was going to go walk in front of a truck.  He wouldn't get into my car (once he was located) and it took a police officer to get him into a vehicle and home.It's really hard to judge how much people with dementia retain.  The last time I saw my dad before his catastrophic head injury, he surprised me by hugging me and saying he loved me.  Did he know who I was that day, or was he just happy "that girl who helps me" came to visit him at the nursing home?  I'd like to think it's the former.  In that situation, we all hope there was a spark of recognition there, just for that moment.We'll never know what was in this dementia patient's mind when he managed to escape his nursing home and walk into a moving train on Saturday night.  The unidentified man, in his 70s, was not even reported missing by the nursing home until an hour after he had been hit by the train.  Who knows how long he was wandering outside in Canada in February.Police said the train engineer sounded the warning horn, but the man continued to walk toward the train....(T)he man was conscious, breathing and talking when first responders arrived.Mighty fine reporting there.  Conscious and breathing?  Talking and breathing?  I think the breathing is a given when someone is conscious and speaking.The man is now in the hospital with undetermined he...
Source: Had a Dad Alzheimers Blog - Category: Dementia Authors: Source Type: blogs