Thanks for your very moving post and example. Thanks tons.
A curiosity as a shrink . . . did the missionary to China speak some Chinese longer than English when languages started to go?
They were highly likely to be at least slightly different areas of the brain involved . . . so possibly one would go before the other. Maybe not, though.
Has long been a curiosity of mine.
I've also wondered how long folks early diagnosed with Alzheimer's who'd learn some basic non-known language vocabuleary--such as Spanish or German or Chinese . . .
such as "No," "yes," "higher," "lower," "more," "less,"
1234567890, cold, hot, hard to breathe, hard to swallow, toilet
etc.
Would the MORE RECENTLY LEARNED foreign language vocabulary and conscioiusness last longer than the older English brain pathways? Would they afford longer facility at SOME communication as things began to really shut down mentally?
I don't know. Couldn't get my dad to do it with my mother soon enough and I wasn't around then. Then, too, her English was somewhat functional right up to the end. She died of a heart attack on the toilet as he held her there. Very touching.
Certainly we know that brains have a surprising ability to build new neural connections--evidently our whole lives. And, newer connections supposedly would have less of the plaque causing Alzheimer's. Anyway--if anyone knows of a study shedding light on such a question, please let me know.
Thank for your post...in reply to your question about language, this missionary from China, was a very old, little lady, who was completely bedridden and completely aphasic, both active and passive...so I never heard her say one word...my own thought would be, that if she was raised bi-lingual from birth, she would probably retain memory of both languages, and use them as she had done, before she was afflicted with Alzheimers...if she learned the second or third language, later on in life, I would think she might have no memory of this...
I say this, because based on my observations of many, many Alzheimers patients, we do know that altho they have very poor short term memory, their long term memory is quite good...I guess the further back in time the parts of ones life go, the longer the memory of that time has been imprinted on the brain, and the more recent events have not been imprinted all that long and so the more recent events fade much quicker than the memory of the further back in time events...I would think that the same would hold true with language retention...
What also struck me as interesting was how so many of these Alzheimers patients, never remember being retired, but still believed that they were actively pursuing their life long careers, even tho now they were in a nursing home...
For instance, the clergymen, would still preach sermons to the other residents, the doctors would try to treat and diagnose the residents, the lady who was a clown, would often try to perform her routines from the circus, for the other residents, the farmer was always looking for his tractor, the concert pianist, was always fingering the table, resembling playing the piano, the lawyer always greeted me in the morning, dressed in his suit, briefcase in hand, wanting to know if I had typed up his notes from the nite before, one engineer was always trying to build something, and the English professor always would correct any faulty grammar I might have....
It was never dull caring for these residents, and it was always quite delightful, as one never knew what they were going to do next...many people find it difficult to care for Alzheimers patients, I always found it to be a joy...