i am ok but it's time to educate people about Alzheimers Disease

Everyone keeps checking in to see if I’m okay. Is it weird that I am okay? I don’t think I’m too broken because I was already broken from the past years dealing with her health, mind, decline and so forth. I had already lost my mother. She wasn’t dead but she could no longer really communicate, respond or participate in life with me.

Yes, I miss her terribly but I have for quite some time. I did not have a mother for the last six years or so. She was already with Alzheimer when dad had his stroke. The decline sped up after dad died and the last couple years.

 

I read somewhere today that once you have Alzheimer you continue to decline until death. That’s exactly what happened. It’s a sad cruel disease. It sneaks up on you stealing little thoughts and memories. Then it begins to steal days and eventually people, even your own family and best friends. Then it removes your abilities to dress yourself, feed yourself and at some point interest in food is gone completely. What surprises many people, is why Alzheimer kills; it is the simple reason that the brain is the computer of a body. It tells the body how to move, the lungs to breathe, the tongue and throat how to chew and swallow and for heart to pump blood through the body. We take our bodies for granted. God is a masterful artist, scientist, designer, and creator.

If only God could tell us how to cure it. For years my family was terrified of cancer. They wouldn’t even say the word. Now, every time someone forgets something, they say, “It’s not that. I don’t have it.”  Sadly, one of mom’s two remaining sisters is following the same pattern. She can’t see it. She doesn’t want to start the medicine. She doesn’t want to think about it, if she can.

 

This is the many faces of Alzheimer.

       

                                        terror          dissatisfaction      manic               disinterested

 

 

Emotions change rapidly and caregiving takes love, patience and understanding. The caregiver goes through the same emotions as the afflicted. I don’t think I should share these photos but I must. People need to understand the horror of Alzheimers Disease.