I also had a parent with Alzheimers...my mom died 14yrs ago, from Alzheimers...my dad while he was able, cared for her until he died...I then, brought her to live with me, and cared for her until she died...
Yes, it was a long, hard, difficult journey, but one I would not trade for anything...it was a privilege to care for my mom, to care for her in her fragile state, as she cared for me when I was a child...
I worked in nursing homes for many years...I always requested to work primarily on the Alzheimers wings, as I found I somehow could easily care for them, perhaps because of my experiences with my mom...
It always struck me, how Alzheimers is so awful, slowly robbing people of their memories...it also struck me how Alzheimers will strike just about anyone, no one is immune...I have cared for an English University Professor, a farmer, a rancher, a couple of engineers, a judge, a concert pianist, a couple of business executives, a couple of medical doctors, a couple of lawyers, a state senator, a Barnum and Baily circus clown, a missionary from China, a couple of clergymen, housewives, factory workers, secretaries, retired military, car salesmen, and on and on...so many people from so many different backgrounds, with so many different careers....all have one thing in common...Alzheimers, slowly robbing them of their memories, and robbing them of their past...its in insidious awful disease...
I will keep you both in my thoughts and in my prayers...one of you has already lost your parent to Alzheimers, the other is dealing with a parent living with Alzheimers...
My very best to both of you...
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.