I just visited my parents and other family members. My dad has dementia. My mother and aunt have Alzheimer's. Both are such horrible diseases.
I called my parents when I was about 5 miles from their house to tell them that I was coming to visit. As usual, when I pulled into the driveway and got out of the car, I heard my dad ask my mother "Who is that?" My mother said "Mary Jane". Your heart can go to to your throat when you realize that your dad no longer recognizes you. As soon as I get out of the car I said "hello, daddy, whatcha doing?" and I think something in his brain clicks when he hears my voice and then he recognizes me.....I just wonder what I look like to him; for just a few minutes I would like to be able to see what he sees and maybe I could understand...just a little. He actually handles his dementia very well; but it hurts to see how confused he is all the time. In his mind his house is always full of people. These people get on his nerves and he doesn't trust them. Every time we get in the car to go for a ride he wants to know who all is going with us and what about all those other people. He doesn't like the fact that he thinks that we leave people at his house..he is afraid they will get his "stuff"
Mother on the other hand does not suffer from delusions, she just has the very typical Alzheimer's symptoms. She constantly repeats herself. She can't remember what she was doing five minutes ago or what she just ate. She does still recognize everyone. She puts things up and can't remember where they are and finding car keys or any keys for that matter, is like a scavenger hunt. She is on Aricept and it has really helped her. Daddy cannot tolerate Aricept.
Then I ran down to the nursing home to visit my Aunt. She is younger than my dad and also suffers from Alzheimer's. I walked into her room and she recognized me immediately. I thought to myself "well, this is going to be good" (I was worried because her doctor had told me that she was crying all the time anymore). She said "I have been thinking about you and Tammy a lot the last couple of days" and I was so pleased and thought to myself that this is going to be a good visit. And then it started.....she proceeded to tell me about how tired she was from tap dancing all night with an Elvis impersonator and how the crowd was yelling for her and how he kissed her and she kissed him back...and then nothing else made any sense the whole time I was there. I took her a chocolate milkshake and some french fries, but she ate very little.
After I left the nursing home and went back to my parents and told them that I had taken my aunt a milk shake, they decided that they wanted one too. So, we pile in the car and I buckle mother in and set the child locks on daddy's door and off we go. As we are riding down the road I spot another Aunt driving down the road by herself...she is 87. When we get back home I call her and have the only sensible conversation that I had all weekend. It is wonderful to live to be that old and still very sharp mentally and physically ok. Unfortunately for me, this is an aunt by marriage..the dementia and Alzheimer's are all my blood relatives.....I guess that I know what I have to look forward to. I can only hope that medical science will come up with something to help this disease. I think that I could handle the situation with my parents when I could go from visiting them to visiting my grandchildren; because my grandchildren always make me smile and warm my heart and give me hope for the future. I sure miss my sweet babies....3 weeks and counting :(
Mother on the other hand does not suffer from delusions, she just has the very typical Alzheimer's symptoms. She constantly repeats herself. She can't remember what she was doing five minutes ago or what she just ate. She does still recognize everyone. She puts things up and can't remember where they are and finding car keys or any keys for that matter, is like a scavenger hunt. She is on Aricept and it has really helped her. Daddy cannot tolerate Aricept.
Then I ran down to the nursing home to visit my Aunt. She is younger than my dad and also suffers from Alzheimer's. I walked into her room and she recognized me immediately. I thought to myself "well, this is going to be good" (I was worried because her doctor had told me that she was crying all the time anymore). She said "I have been thinking about you and Tammy a lot the last couple of days" and I was so pleased and thought to myself that this is going to be a good visit. And then it started.....she proceeded to tell me about how tired she was from tap dancing all night with an Elvis impersonator and how the crowd was yelling for her and how he kissed her and she kissed him back...and then nothing else made any sense the whole time I was there. I took her a chocolate milkshake and some french fries, but she ate very little.
After I left the nursing home and went back to my parents and told them that I had taken my aunt a milk shake, they decided that they wanted one too. So, we pile in the car and I buckle mother in and set the child locks on daddy's door and off we go. As we are riding down the road I spot another Aunt driving down the road by herself...she is 87. When we get back home I call her and have the only sensible conversation that I had all weekend. It is wonderful to live to be that old and still very sharp mentally and physically ok. Unfortunately for me, this is an aunt by marriage..the dementia and Alzheimer's are all my blood relatives.....I guess that I know what I have to look forward to. I can only hope that medical science will come up with something to help this disease. I think that I could handle the situation with my parents when I could go from visiting them to visiting my grandchildren; because my grandchildren always make me smile and warm my heart and give me hope for the future. I sure miss my sweet babies....3 weeks and counting :(
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