In a conversation yesterday with Jesus, I was reminded that ADL's (Activities of Daily Living) are usually used to assess an individual's ability to remain independent or to assess the level of their disability. There are both Basic ADLs and Instrumental ADLs. Here are they all are according to Wikipedia, and my comments about Mom's status in each, mainly for posterity's sake:
- Personal hygiene - Not great
- Grooming - Hair's ok, but her make-up isn't as crisp as it was in the old days
- Dressing - She has the physical ability to do it, but her sense of style is gone. She wears the same top and skirt every day.
- Self feeding - She can feed herself, but she is not at all able to prepare a plate of food for herself.
- Functional transfers (e.g., getting onto or off of toilet) -Ok, I guess
- Bowel and bladder management - I think she's having some issues there.
- Ambulation - she ambulates in a very wobbly fashion at times. It seems to be a momentary balance issue
- Housework - Nope, not for at least six months
- Taking medications as prescribed - Nope, back in January she was unable to take meds
- Managing money - She hung on to that ability much longer. But about 4 or 5 months ago, she didn't know what a credit card was. She has no idea how much money she has.
- Shopping for groceries or clothing - Nope. Last successful visit was months ago.
- Use of telephone - hasn't been able to use her cell phone for at least the last year or so.
- Using technology - no comment
- Transportation - stopped driving in January
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