Masaharu Hayakawa (alias)

Age:

87 years old ( As of December 2019 interview)

Year of birth:

March 1932

Place of residence:

Urayasu City, Chiba Prefecture

Relatives living together:

Single room (serviced residence for the elderly)

Occupation:

Company employee

Age of onset:

About 75 years old

Age of diagnosis:

86 years old

Diagnosis:

Lewy body
Alzheimer's dementia-like symptoms (decreased memory)

Dementia rating scale?Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE)
The most widely used screening test internationally for identifying dementia, in which questions are asked directly to subjects. The MMSE assesses cognitive functions with a series of questions/tasks related to orientation, memory, attention and calculation, language, giving commands and copying a picture. The test yields the highest score of 30 points, and, in general, those who score 23 points or lower are identified as suspected patients with dementia.Revised Hasegawa's Dementia Scale (HDS-R)
A screening test widely used in Japan for identifying dementia, in which questions are asked directly to subjects. It has 9 questions/tasks related to age, orientation, immediate memory and delayed recall of 3 words, calculation, backward digit span, memory of 5 objects and language fluency. The test yields the highest score of 30 points, and, in general, those who score 20 points or lower are identified as suspected patients with dementia.
:

MMSE 20About

Using long-term care insurance:

Uses bathing twice a week; cleaning, laundry and linen change once a week; and visiting long-term care for bathing and laundry once a week
Uses visiting nursing care once a week

Frequency of gatherings with other people with dementia:

Nothing in particular

Past experiences

1997年(65)

Retired from the automobile company where I worked as an office worker, utilizing my expertise in quality assurance, which I majored in when I studied at a graduate school in the United States. (I was involved in landscaping, architectural construction, and also the design of the jump platform for the Nagano Olympics).

1997年(65)

When I traveled in a group of 18 to Tibet and Yunnan Province, I saw Chinese children studying under bamboo umbrellas and felt sorry for them. So my friends and I pooled our money to build schools. (We built our 18th school last year.)
I received the Order of the Purple Fong.

1997年(65)

In China, people eat for enjoyment, and I fell in love with the spirit. I started the "Boys, let's enter the kitchen" group in Japan and continued for about 15 years.

2017年(85)

February: my partner was hospitalized for a subdural hematoma, and we had no choice but to move into a serviced residence for the elderly (in Kitakyushu), thinking that we could no longer live by ourselves.
I could not accept long-term care insurance or nursing care services and I had little interaction with other residents.
I had several cerebral infarctions myself and applied for the long-term care level 1.
I was not diagnosed with dementia but told by my doctor that my memory had declined in a way normal for my age.
I consciously tried to keep my physical abilities to prevent aging but had difficulty in walking.

2017年(85)

March: my partner passed away, and I became mentally down. As I was not able to live alone in Kitakyushu,
August: my eldest daughter rented an apartment in Tokyo, and I moved in with her and her 3 daughters.
I applied for a change of care level and was certified as long-term care level 3.
I used exercise-type day services twice a week and visiting medical care.

2018年(85)

I fell multiple times within 6 months.
I could not accept hospital or nursing/welfare use and disagreed with the suggestion to use a wheelchair.
Around this time, my eldest daughter noticed that I was forgetting to turn off the water tap or saying the same thing over and over again. I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia.
I did not have dementia and found the situation unacceptable.
As some time went by, my family members became exhausted of being beaten with a walking stick and being dragged into my pace of living. They made the decision to live separately from me.
January: my eldest daughter found a nearby serviced residence for the elderly.
I had a bad impression of the facility in Kitakyushu. I cried and resisted, but my family already could not bear the situation mentally and asked for moving in.

2018年(85)

Right after my move, my eldest daughter came to see me every other day and did room cleaning and shopping.
(I asked my eldest daughter to go shopping once a week so that she would come to see me.)
My care manager understood me well, and I gradually got accustomed to living in the serviced residence for the elderly.
My eldest daughter's visits decreased to once every two weeks.

2020年(87)

January: my care manager noticed that I was not well and transported me to the hospital emergently, where a myocardial infarction and aspiration pneumonia were found.

2020年(88)

Due to an increasing sense of burden on the part of my eldest daughter, who were supposed to visit me once a week at the serviced residence, and her declining physical condition, both of which had started to become gradually apparent before my hospitalization,
August: I moved out of the serviced residence and moved to an apartment where I lived with my eldest daughter.
I now enjoy talking with the care manager and visiting caregivers while my eldest daughter is away at work during the day.
(Visiting rehabilitation once a week and visiting long-term care once a week; my doctor suggests I increase the numbers of both visits by 2 due to swallowing difficulties.)

Joy in life and living

1

Joy that remains with you even after onset

Dining is my joy (I do not eat to live.)

2

Joy that remains with you even after onset

Traveling to the countryside

3

Joy that remains with you even after onset

Every morning when I wake up, I even grind coffee.

4

Joy that remains with you even after onset

Chiology (chi mind and chi care), which I learned

Something you would like to do in the future

I do not want to eat bad food because I feel eating to live would impoverish my mind. I want to eat good food while I am alive.
I am making efforts to read more to avoid my forgetfulness to advance.
With the gratuity, I would like to give back something good to everyone in the serviced residence for the elderly.

Challenges in daily living

Physical and mental dysfunctions

Message to the society

Do the very best that I can. To have no regrets, I try not to fall short or feel that I should have done something. That is all that matters.
What is dementia? Instead of a name that some people wonder about or that makes people feel stupid, please come up with a more matching name, such as "thought paralysis" or something. I hope people will work for such a change and make a difference. It will lead to respect for human rights.
(If someone sees the world differently, instead of pushing what you believe to the person,) you should first stand on the same level to understand him/her and then help them learn. You might be talking to people who do not have knowledge or see things differently. It is the same with children or new employees.