With Alzheimer’s disease, the loved ones feel the loss and the grief. In my small family of three, my father and I felt the loss as my mother slipped away into her own world leaving us behind. I watched as my father tried to hang on to his wife, the love of his life. At the same time, I was struggling with my own loss of my mother, my confidant since early adulthood and my best friend. I became my father’s support and therapist of sorts during a time when I needed my own support and therapist. It felt like an impossible situation sometimes.
Comments closedMonth: July 2019
I doubt my mother ever feels a sense of loss when I leave. For me though, it still hurts sometimes because she doesn’t remember me or know that I was just there. An Alzheimer’s patient lives entirely in what he or she sees in the moment. I know that she loves having me in her world while I’m there. When I sit with my arm around her, she gets as close as possible. But once I duck out of her sight, I don’t exist to her. She does not miss me.
Comments closed
The interesting thing is that even prior to my Ahha! moment, I noticed certain things about her behavior but never connected it to dementia. I brushed things off as part of aging.
1 Comment
This practice of leaving a patient or resident in bed for excessive amounts of time is a real flashpoint with me. The more time a patient stays in bed, the faster the patient declines due to lack of conditioning. It’s depressing for a patient and it takes away all opportunity for socialization. Patient confinement is a very sneaky practice and it robs vulnerable people of everything.
Comments closed
At the time rehab was evaluating styles of wheelchairs, we went into the Christmas and New Years holiday week. I never imagined at the time that it was an urgent issue. I wish I understood the risks.
Comments closed