Mountain Ash, Dee, thanks for your words of support and advice.

To clarify a bit, it is my STEP-father my mother is dealing with, not my father. Thankfully -- in case dementia runs in families -- my father is mentally alert, healthy and going strong at 81.

To explain more about my father -- he has been building a 20-foot sailboat in his garage for the past couple of years, still does some consulting (he is an engineer)and is an emeritus professor of engineering who has run a successful consulting engineering firm for close to 50 years, now. He walks several miles a day, and he lives alone, but in a community where he has good friends who all look out for each other.

My step-father is an equally wonderful man, a retired shop teacher who teaches Sunday school at his church, and loves to garden. He has something called REM sleep disorder, which manifests in some ways similar to Parkinson's Disease.

This sleep disorder is why they have resorted to sleeping separately. Part of the disorder means that he acts out his dreams. When my mother slept in the same bed with him, she was in danger of getting attacked if he had a bad dream and started acting it out.

I will suggest to my mother that she try to get my step-father in to the doctor for a regular physical to begin with...
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