Friday, October 28, 2016
Who are You, Lady and the staging with Uncle Alzy, PT 1 the link
Mom's good, though heaven knows I'd be reamed out for allowing her to go grey, white really. Her hair, always scrupulously groomed, pageboy style, a study in helmet hair now the long strands rarely trimmed is more likely to be tucked inside her collar as a last bastion of paranoid protectionism.
This election year's hyper emotional and often vitriolic rhetoric reminded me of Mom, not such a strange notion with Alzheimers. It is true that this disease will dissolve the memories of family ties and if allowed, the ties themselves as in my case. It doesn't have to have that effect if caregivers and family remember that memories may go but emotion remains. The loved one feels, it's as simple as that. Mom feels love, fear, happiness, humor, hatred, anger or frankly, fakery. The link below, describes the stages of Alzheimers and in truth, I learned to wear colors she loves when I visit, to speak kindly while looking in her eyes and engaging with her. I the disease has made her hyper perceptive on a more basic level to her emotional side. She hears inner voices, constantly involved in conversations with the "air conditioning people,' as we call them. They tell her whether it's safe to go with me to the doctor, whether it's ok to eat something that's unfamiliar or whether the person who just stopped her wanderings is that "bad person" to be avoided or someone, that "lady" who represents a treat and a caring ear. It reminds me how much this disease resembles a reverse aging process that gets Mom as close to an infant mentally as possible. Your baby cries for attention, food, fear. Your baby smiles or turns her head, studying your face to understand, good from bad from simply curious. It'seems basic and beautiful in its own way. One thing I know for sure is that she can "feel the love."
http://www.caregiverstress.com/dementia-alzheimers-disease/symptoms/stages-of-alzheimers/?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=10445760
This election year's hyper emotional and often vitriolic rhetoric reminded me of Mom, not such a strange notion with Alzheimers. It is true that this disease will dissolve the memories of family ties and if allowed, the ties themselves as in my case. It doesn't have to have that effect if caregivers and family remember that memories may go but emotion remains. The loved one feels, it's as simple as that. Mom feels love, fear, happiness, humor, hatred, anger or frankly, fakery. The link below, describes the stages of Alzheimers and in truth, I learned to wear colors she loves when I visit, to speak kindly while looking in her eyes and engaging with her. I the disease has made her hyper perceptive on a more basic level to her emotional side. She hears inner voices, constantly involved in conversations with the "air conditioning people,' as we call them. They tell her whether it's safe to go with me to the doctor, whether it's ok to eat something that's unfamiliar or whether the person who just stopped her wanderings is that "bad person" to be avoided or someone, that "lady" who represents a treat and a caring ear. It reminds me how much this disease resembles a reverse aging process that gets Mom as close to an infant mentally as possible. Your baby cries for attention, food, fear. Your baby smiles or turns her head, studying your face to understand, good from bad from simply curious. It'seems basic and beautiful in its own way. One thing I know for sure is that she can "feel the love."
http://www.caregiverstress.com/dementia-alzheimers-disease/symptoms/stages-of-alzheimers/?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=10445760
Friday, March 27, 2015
Hmmm So Much time, so many reasons, but let's not go down that road again. Did'ya miss us, we're still here, sorta. . . .
Well, 4 years later, and we're still dealing. Good and Bad days. Yet another breakthrough today: https://www.yahoo.com/health/were-we-getting-alzheimers-wrong-new-study-could-114577657447.html People always tell me, get Mom in the study but realistically, we were lucky enough to celebrate her 85th birthday and she's still ambulatory. She's talking, sometimes the conversations make more sense than others but she's not going to understand or cooperate. That ship, I think has sailed. I'm not saying she couldn't have treatments if they are available but the fear of the unknown ramps up and there's very little help she would give in the way that most studies are structured. Now if they wanted to make the study work with someone with Alzheimer's, they should meet them in their own environment. Now there's a thought.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Speaking Alzheimerian or The Language of Alzheimer's
Thursday, September 22, 2011
It's been a while granted, major computer problems, not completely solved at this time. Suffices to say, that these problems render it almost unimaginably difficult to type . . . hence the problem. But having said that, if you have any interest in Alzheimer's, as a patient, caregiver, physician or family member you just gotta read the Alzheimer's Reading Room, it's a jewel, a comfort and a wealth of information. Hence, I've included a link to today's topic. It's true, it's real, I live it and it helps me to get through the day or a visit with my mom. I've added two quotes to the article that seem to say it all. . . . .
"When you get to Alzheimer's World you have to learn how to speak Alzheimerian. A new and different language that always starts with a very simple basic premise -- always do what is best for the person living with dementia."
"Well, the language in Alzeheimer's World is also different and sooner or later you need to learn how to speak Alzheimerian (Alz-heim-er-ian)."
Sunday, July 24, 2011
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