My husband is 80 yrs. old, and is being treated for liver cancer. He has very little conversation, even in company says he has nothing to say. Sleeps most of the day. He still drives, appears to be in trance like state. stays in his room except for meals. He can cook, dresses himself, but has become seedy looking. lets his beard grow scruffy & I asked him to shave says when we go out. Watches TV most of the time, he has had two to four bouts of urinary tract infection, after being treated for liver cancer. We play cards once a week, seems to understand, but can become forgetful. He is becoming forgetful. How do I have him tested to determine if he is in early stages of Alzheimer's?
Since your husband had liver cancer, it would probably be good to avoid any type of pharmaceutical treatment for depression, if that is what it is. Do you think he would be open to white light therapy to see if it would help? There has to be some way to pick his spirits back up again.
His cognition was pretty good, he just got tired of living at around 88 until he died at 92. He had lung cancer, so some of his behavior (and your husband's) may be in response to the toll the cancer has taken on his body.