Posted on 11/02/2004 10:42:07 AM PST by neverdem
This thread caught my eye because I had just gotten off the phone with my wife. She hosts a Bible study in our home every Tuesday morning and this morning an elderly lady who's been visiting our congregation showed up. [I'd be interested to know what first brought her since our worship service is decidedly contemporary in style. She keeps coming because she said she could tell our congregation was genuine in our faith...] She told my wife she's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and it saddens her because she's been forgetting things about her faith. Sorry, something in my eye...
My wife told her that even though she might forget, the Holy Spirit doesn't and he knows just how to pray for her even when she doesn't. She seemed to get a lot of comfort from that. I think I'll change from my usual seat this coming Sunday and try to get to know her a little better.
Take another look a your post #3.
I feel my post was in good order.
FYI
We're just about to complete a home addition to house my mother-in-law, who has alzheimers. We should have her with us by Thanksgiving. We'll keep her as long as we can. My wife's grandmother also had the disease..... so needless to say.... my wife is researching anything she can do to make it skip her.
Commendations to you and your family for the care you gave your relatives. OTOH, there are people who, for health reasons, cannot care for an Alzheimer's patient in the home. Everyone that I know kept their family member at home as long as possible. I don't know anyone who "farmed" anyone out at a "warehouse."
I've cared for a number of Alzheimer's patients, and they are different at different stages. Some do become violent, and I wonder if sometimes that's because of minor strokes that go unnoticed...in any case, it's an organic disease, and can affect different areas of the brain in different people. When a small, frail wife has a large, aggressive husband with Alzheimer's, she can be harmed, particularly after he no longer recognizes her.
I've heard blueberries have shown promise in brain related health. Needless to say, I'm eating them daily. Just hope my skin doesn't turn blue ; )
I've heard that green tea twice daily is very helpful, although I haven't come across the research.
Of all things to be nasty about - ALZHEIMERS is not it! Save the ugly for the enemy. We are not the enemy. And God bless and keep each of you who have cared for and loved a family member stricken with "A"
With an attitude like this, one hopes none of your relatives will have to suffer under care.
Thanks... I'll pass that along to her.
Sad thread ping.
My boyfriend had atypical Parkinson's Disease. It started when he was in his forties and developed with a mixture of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's symptoms, also including paranoia and, at times, violent outbursts. He died after twelve years -- from a brain tumor that hadn't shown up on MRVs a year earlier. I empathize with all who have to care for these patients. And decisions about what to do become more complicated still when the individual is not married. Note that all these stories involve people who -- for all their suffering -- are lucky enough to have a devoted spouse who will devote himself totally to their welfare. When you are not married to the ill person and have to earn your own living, the choices become even more difficult.
I had my boyfriend committed once because he was threatening suicide -- and seemed to want me to take this action. After that, however, he became more secretive. Drug addicts preyed on him, pretending to be his friends and running up enormous credit card bills ($67,000)by taking out cash advances. At times he wanted to be rescued by me, at other times he insisted on seeing these people and there was nothing I could do. He punched a stranger on the street and knocked him down. When I let him stay at my apartment, he could not be left alone for an hour -- started fires,called our friends to complain that I was holding him prisoner, and so on. Unlike the patients in the article, he still youthful looking and powerfully built, so if his medication was working it wasn't always obvious how sick he was. I lived in terror that he would end up arrested.
Though it was clear to me that he was not competent, he managed to pull himself together during visits to his doctors and pass their tests, so he was not considered a candidate for residential care. He could turn on the charm and seem like the most reasonable person in the world. I was the villain for thinking it might be necessary to hospitalize him.
I'm sure this case isn't unique -- and in the future,with so many adults who are single, divorced or otherwise alone, the problem will become more acute.
Sorry to hear about you mother. We went through a similiar experience with my grandmother a few years back.
Your love and care were phenomenal, and God will surely bless you for it.
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That's nonsense.
It will all depend of their priorities.
When the age, they shouldn't be surprised when "family" doesn't have the time for them.
I hear "state homes" are horrendous. THAT is where they will wind up.
Many of my relatives had Alzheimer's and WE TOOK CARE OF THEM. We didn't farm them out to an old age WAREHOUSE to be neglected and die and NONE of them were violent.
How dare you point your finger at ME.
OTOH, you sound like the typical cantankerous hypocrite.
Many of my relatives had Alzheimer's and WE TOOK CARE OF THEM. We didn't farm them out to an old age WAREHOUSE to be neglected and die and NONE of them were violent.
How dare you point your finger at ME.
OTOH, you sound like the typical cantankerous hypocrite.
What is really in a persons heart comes out through this terrible disease.
I don't believe you.
Tragic and sad but very real. My husband's grandfather, Granpa George, had Alzheimers. He had some occasions where he burst out at Grandma. Part of it was frustation and loss of memory. He was agitated for a time. One he progressed beyond that, the episodes stopped. It's hard as a family to see someone forget them. Grandma developed it later. They always cooked in aluminum cookware...don't know if that is a factor, but I threw away all my aluminum cookware.
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