What a dream last night! I dreamed we took mom home to visit with dad and when she walked into their home she immediately became lucid and no longer had Alzheimer's....she said she had just been fooling us all along. Sad reality when I woke up and realized it was just a dream.
On a recent visit with mom, she asked who I was when I sat down next to her. I told her I was her daughter Diane and gave her a hug. She held my hand and said she was so glad to see me and how did I ever find her at her home. I told her I knew where she lived and I came to visit. During our conversation it was apparent she did not remember who I was but as I was leaving she yelled out Diane come here. When I went back over to see her again she said I forgot what I was going to tell you but she was pulling at her hair. I had told her during our conversation her hair still looked pretty but we would need to take her for a hair cut in two weeks. I asked if she wanted her hair cut and she said yes, I told her it looked pretty but my sister and I would take her soon to get her hair done. There was a glimmer of OUR mom in there, if only for just a moment.
A recent editorial in an LA newspaper had some shocking figures on Alzheimer's. Thousands die from AD but yet it is usually complications of something else that is listed as their cause of death. More people REALLY die from AD than cancer but it is not listed as their cause of death. They end up with pneumonia, fall and hit their head, can no longer swallow so they can't eat, and many other things that cause death but the reason is REALLY AD. It also talked about the millions of dollars worth of 'free care-giving' done by the caregiver who is usually the spouse or other close relative. This disease touches more than the care givers, every family member is effected in some way. I took our mom and figured out the BLOOD relatives that are touched by AD... there are three adult children who each have 2 children. Out of those 6 grands, 4 are married and have two children each or at least one is due in August to make that family have two. Total of 17 blood relatives that have been touched by this awful disease now with a family member and could have this disease in the future. Now include the spouses of these blood relatives and you can count 7 more affected and two are not yet married. So with just one person having AD in an average size family, 24 people are affected not counting mom and dad. If you have a family member that has AD--do your numbers it will astonish you. Multiply that by the thousands of people who have AD and people who have a blood relative with the disease grows by leaps and bounds.
It is that time of year for Alzheimer's walks....people may ask you to donate money for the Alzheimer's Association. Don't think that is not my disease, because sooner or later you may have someone in your family diagnosed with AD. If someone asks for a donation, think before you just say no. I will be giving in honor of my mom.
There are many blogs out there with families going through this same journey....some have a lot of followers. This one is just family but it helps me to write about it.
We love you mom, honey, grams, meme.
Billy, Diane, Nancy, Tim, Susan, Scott, Nicki, Andy, Preston, Patrick, Christopher, Madison, Macy, Chesney, Parker, Caden, Hudson and 'peanut'. Thank you to all the spouses....Jim, Jim, Dana, Brian, Caressa, Justin, and Talethea. We could not do what we need to do for mom without everyone's support.
