What do you think of my elderly buddy’s behavior?

Hmm. Well. It’s definitely something to be concerned about. I would sadly worry about a form of early dementia.

Could be a fluke….

It is commendable that you are worried and will watch him. He may have been havinga bday day, or he may be in a serious decline.

Does he have responsible relatives or partner that you can talk to? Often, people who are around someone all the time become inured to someone’s decline. Best to speak to them about your concern so they can have a heightened awareness also.

He needs a check up. Sometimes it’s simply dehydration or restricted oxygen, but you’re right to keep a check on him.

Oh man…. I would keep an eye on him. There really is nothing you can do except make sure he doesn’t hurt himself. He is lucky to have you guys as friends.
I have a relative about that age who suddenly started eating in a strange manner. He is now cutting up his food really fast and into tiny pieces – even his eggs. It’s like an obsession. He concentrates fully on the task at hand. This is definitely not his normal behavior.
We all keep our eyes open.

“Watch him”...“check on him”...“keep eyes open”...yes, all very well, but what do you actually do? What is there to do?

This is not an entirely hypothetical query.

If he’s healthy enough to paddle a canoe for 2+ miles, then there doesn’t seem to be any major physical impairment – which frequently accompanies Alzheimer’s – so I’d just put this down (at least for now) as an isolated memory glitch. These things can happen to anyone.

That is, putting myself in Joe’s position, if he couldn’t find his paddle immediately when you all launched your canoes, then he might have simply assumed that he had left his paddle at home. A mile into the exercise, his memory cleared and he recalled where it must have been on the dock (I presume), and went back to get it. And then he came back to rejoin you.

This kind of thing happens among people all the time, and among older people – even those with generally good memory function – more frequently. As an isolated instance, and especially if he admits it and acknowledges it actually a sign of good mental health.

If you’re concerned, I would ask him about the process that he went through, and why he lost track of the paddle in the first place. If he has no recollection of the entire incident, then you’ve got a reason to be concerned. If he sheeplshly (or in some other way) acknowledges that he deviated from his routine in some simple way, forgot at first where he had left his paddle on the dock (leading him to believe that it was still at home), etc. etc. – then he’s fine.

I’ll try to find the link where I read that isolated memory lapses – which are acknowledged by the person who has ‘em – ain’ no thang, but I forget for the moment where I read that.

EDIT to add: Here we go.

@Jeruba in the given scenario the buddy system would have been appropriate. One of the others should have accompanied him back in their boat. Inconvenient for one of the others, yes, but we are talking someone who is obviously not himself today.

Also, @KNOWITALL ‘s comment about dehydration is certainly something to take into account.

Finally, and perhaps a long shot but certainly not without precedent, UTI’s are one of the major causes of confusion in older adults, both female and male, it might be worthwhile looking into as a possible contributing factor.

@CWOTUS “If he’s healthy enough to paddle a canoe for 2+ miles, then there doesn’t seem to be any major physical impairment – which frequently accompanies Alzheimer’s”

Yes, in latter stages. Early on there is little to no physical impairment at all.

@gondwanalon I’d be concerned. @rojo has a point. Urinary tract infections can be responsible for some forgetfulness. Sure doesn’t hurt to check it out. (reminding myself here that may be the cause of my forgetfulness this week.)

Talk to him about your concern.

Show him he won’t be up the creek without a paddle.

^That’s some Hallmark shit. Well said.

Thanks you all.

Like @CWOTUS pointed to, it’s good that Joe can see his forgetfulness. It’s a little odd to me that Joe wasn’t at all embarrassed by this. If I forgot where I put my paddle and made people wait for me and then remembered where put it while in a workout. I would finish the workout and try to hide my memory lapse from the others.

Joe seems otherwise normal and very strong. He is signed up for several long distance outrigger canoe races this year in large 6 paddler canoes (60 feet long).

One problem he’s having that he didn’t have last year in large canoes is staying in time with the other paddlers. All 6 paddlers need to be in sync to go smoothly. On video Joe is way out of time with the others (so far out it’s painful to watch). We talked to Joe about it and solved the problem by putting him in seat 1 (the “stroker” that the rest of the canoe follows). Now as he varies his stroke rate the other paddlers are right with him. But this is sort of like sweeping the problem under the rug.

Hope he doesn’t get worse.

^If I’m not mistaken, physical exercise won’t be detrimental.

Be a little patient with him. No need for the Fluther nondoctors to try to make a diagnosis.