Prince Henrik Diagnosed with Dementia: September 2017 & Further Health Issues

[Rudolph]

My thoughts and prayers are with the family. When my dad died he went from healthy to dead in 8 days.

Around 3 am the day he died he drank a mouthful of tea with a piece of toast. He was found dead at 9 am.

[An Ard Ri]

Originally Posted by Tarlita

Great anecdote. Mang tak Muhler. Thanks also to An Ard Ri for the link to the photo. I didn't know he had a sister.

Sister Catherine de Monpezat was born in 1946, is a member of the Order of the Sister Notre Dame de Calvaire ,she looks a lot like her older brother here's a photo of her arriving at the wedding of Prince Joachim and Marie Cavallier in 2008.

https://newsbreak.dk/wp-content/uplo...we-608x475.jpg

[Valerie Rose]

Originally Posted by Muhler

They smelled to high heaven like PET officers!
They simply dress for the occasion. If the DRF members dress casually, the PET officers dress casually.
If the DRF members dress formally, the PET officers dress formally.

Sorry, what is a PET officer?
Can't find the acronym meaning easily.

Edit to add: thank you, tommy100, for your reply below.

[tommy100]

Its the agency responsible for protecting the RF, they are their bodyguards. Can't remember what the letters stand for atm.

Edit - Politiets Efterretningstjeneste

[Duc_et_Pair]

Okay protection officers, now I understand. It indeed would have been a bit of a strange image when officers are more formally dressed than their "objects" during private pastime.

[MARG]

True, they would stand out like a sore thumb. Another thing I noticed was that they all seemed noticeably hypervigilant which surprised me because I have never noticed before. However, on further thought, the entire DRF was present in one place, at one time, in a public and open area. Must have been the PET officers nightmare with unpredictable comings and goings and no way to have secured the area ahead of time.

[dgtns]

so true! Goodness where would the Crown go?

[wyevale]

Should there be no eligible descendant of King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine, the parliament has the right to elect a monarch and determine a new line of succession.

But today Princess Benedicte wasn't present, so the Crown would devolve to her.

[HereditaryPrincess]

Oh no, poor Henrik - I'm sorry to hear that his dementia has been worsening.
My friend's father recently died after suffering from dementia for a few years after his condition worsened but before that, like so many dementia sufferers, he was very fit, healthy and outspoken.

It's nice to hear that Henrik has been receiving visitors, though the comments about some patients preferring to be alone before death is interesting. When my great-aunt passed away a few years ago she was alone but we had been visiting her regularly before that point and she had company in the hospice she was admitted to.

[Duc_et_Pair]

I am not sure the Prince's Alzheimer or dementia (there is a difference) has worsened. The Prince suffers respiratory problems, if I understood it correctly. On itself everyone can develop respiratory problems, also healthy people.

[Biri]

But don't patients with Alzheimer's disease have reduced immunity?

[French Toast]

Originally Posted by wyevale

Should there be no eligible descendant of King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine, the parliament has the right to elect a monarch and determine a new line of succession.

But today Princess Benedicte wasn't present, so the Crown would devolve to her.

With all due respect what does this have to do with HRH Prince Henrik's hospitalization?

[O-H Anglophile]

Originally Posted by French Toast

With all due respect what does this have to do with HRH Prince Henrik's hospitalization?

It was an answer to this:

Originally Posted by MARG

True, they would stand out like a sore thumb. Another thing I noticed was that they all seemed noticeably hypervigilant which surprised me because I have never noticed before. However, on further thought, the entire DRF was present in one place, at one time, in a public and open area. Must have been the PET officers nightmare with unpredictable comings and goings and no way to have secured the area ahead of time.

Originally Posted by dgtns

so true! Goodness where would the Crown go?

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by dgtns

so true! Goodness where would the Crown go?

To Joachim's youngest son, Henrik.

French Toast. - I think we are trying to fill out time with small-chat while waiting. It's actually weird, in a sense I feel many, if not most, of us here are literally feeling with the family, in the sense that we are also waiting.
Waiting for the end or for PH to get better. It sure is a pattern I recognize from similar occasions where I have been waiting when a family member is going one way or the other.
I think it's positive that we we empathize with the family this way.
- Well, I can only speak for myself, of course, but am I completely off the mark?

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

I am not sure the Prince's Alzheimer or dementia (there is a difference) has worsened. The Prince suffers respiratory problems, if I understood it correctly. On itself everyone can develop respiratory problems, also healthy people.

Absolutely. I went down with severe case of pleurisy a few years back. Apart from a traffic accident I've never been so ill in my life! And I was in good health, yet it knocked me out.
It's no wonder elderly and weak die from pneumonia.

[French Toast]

Originally Posted by Muhler

To Joachim's youngest son, Henrik.

French Toast. - I think we are trying to fill out time with small-chat while waiting. It's actually weird, in a sense I feel many, if not most, of us here are literally feeling with the family, in the sense that we are also waiting.
Waiting for the end or for PH to get better. It sure is a pattern I recognize from similar occasions where I have been waiting when a family member is going one way or the other.
I think it's positive that we we empathize with the family this way.
- Well, I can only speak for myself, of course, but am I completely off the mark?

Not at all, Muhler.

I, like many, have experienced the loss of a loved one specifically both of my parents.

The pain, the uncertainty, the confusion etc the members of the Danish royal family are going through is something I can relate to very much. I have much empathy for them.

My prayers are with HRH Prince Henrik and his family.

[AdmirerUS]

From experience, people with advanced Alzheimer's or Dementia start to experience physical issues. They often hit a point where the issues seem to speed up or multiply in their onset. In the US, we call this cascading.

My father, who died with dementia, actually died from pneumonia. Immediately before that, he suffered cascading physical failure: loss of the ability to move his legs, a UTI and a blood disorder.

Even though I have a niece who had worked in elderly care and who was able to explain to us the range of issues that we could expect, I know we were all shocked at how quickly my Dad went at the end. I was quite sure he would recover and be able to come home after some physical therapy.

Instead, on the same day we updated his advance directives, within an hour, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and the nursing facility decided he needed to be sent to the hospital for greater care.

We have two local hospitals in the area, and while I went to the emergency room for the hospital of our choice, the ambulance diverted to closer care as his ability to oxygenate his blood plummeted. This all occurred over less that 15 minutes. And the ambulance did not bother to let anyone know of the change.

The upshot was that I arrived in one emergency room and he in another. I had literally "lost" my Dad but it took me over an hour and a half to confirm that. And a half hour to get over to the other care facility. Some people wander off from home when they have dementia. My Dad's ambulance did the wandering for him.

He was dead before midnight and released from his misery. We were with him at the end which was a blessing for us all.

I cannot possibly explain to anyone how utterly unpredictable the progress of this disease was for us. I am guessing that the Royal Family is experiencing the same thing.

[Tarlita]

You are both right. Hearing about the Princes condition brings back emotions from when I lost my darling dad. Many other members here probably experience the same thing. I do empathsize with the royal family.

[dgtns]

Originally Posted by Muhler

To Joachim's youngest son, Henrik.

French Toast. - I think we are trying to fill out time with small-chat while waiting. It's actually weird, in a sense I feel many, if not most, of us here are literally feeling with the family, in the sense that we are also waiting.
Waiting for the end or for PH to get better. It sure is a pattern I recognize from similar occasions where I have been waiting when a family member is going one way or the other.
I think it's positive that we we empathize with the family this way.
- Well, I can only speak for myself, of course, but am I completely off the mark?

I’ve been coming back and checking all day. A bit of work puttering, online check. Repeat about 10times today

[kathia_sophia]

Once the brain starts not to function the same way as before, a person's health starts deteriorating really fast. From many people who had Alzheimer's or Dementia, most died from other health problems, though these health problems are associated with the disease because the brain is weak and doesn't function correctly anymore. We can compare (just a reference of example) with AIDS, people don't exactly die from AIDS, but die from health problems associated with AIDS. The "main" disease is the trigger of health problems that come after.
I don't know if I explained well because english is not my mother tongue.

[alicia]

Crown Princess Mary lost her mother to heart problems. She'll be well aware of the feelings that the family are experiencing. I am sure she'll be a comforting support to her husband and children, and to the Queen.